چهار شهر ایرلندی

CHAPTER TEN

Four Irish cities

Cork. Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland. In 820 the Vikings attacked a Christian monastery here, and then stayed to build a town by the River Lee. Cork is in the south-west of Ireland and it has a wonderful harbour for ships. Many poor Irish people sailed from Cork to America at the time of the Great Hunger, and today ships and planes go from Cork all over the world.

123,000 people live here today, and the city of Cork is famous for music, dancing, theatre, and film. Many visitors come here too, on their way to the beautiful south-west of Ireland. In 2005 Cork was the European Capital of Culture.

Londonderry, or Derry. Derry, with a population of 105,000, is the second city of Northern Ireland. Protestants call it Londonderry, because in 1600 English Protestants from London built a city here, but Catholics call the city Derry. There was a small monastery here, beside the River Foyle, in the time of the Vikings, but the great walls of Londonderry were built in the 1600s. You can walk around these walls today: they are one and a half kilometres long and nearly six metres wide. The old guns from the Siege of Derry are still there on the walls.

But many people want to forget the battles of the past. In the last week of October, thousands of people come to Derry for the Halloween festival. There is music, theatre, and a big parade, in the biggest street party in Ireland.

Galway. Galway (population 65,800) is in the west of Ireland, at the mouth of the River Corrib. In this part of the country the Irish language is very strong, and you will see it and hear it everywhere. It is a centre for Irish music, singing and dance, and there is an Irish language theatre in Galway too.

From Galway you can visit Connemara, with its beautiful wild lakes and mountains. The Aran Islands are close by too. People speak Irish here, and many visitors like to come to these wild, lonely islands to hear Irish music in the pubs and see the difficult life of the islanders.

Waterford. Waterford (population 45,000) is in the south-east of Ireland. It was Ireland’s first city; the Vikings came here in the 850s, and they came back in 914 to make the city. It is famous for its glass (people have made glass here since 1783) and for the ships that were built here. Three rivers meet the sea at Waterford - the Rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir - and there are fine mountains and beaches to visit in this part of Ireland.