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Ireland, the land of a thousand welcomes (Cead Mile Failte) reaches out all over the world. This small island in the Atlantic Ocean lays claim to almost 50million people who are proud to say they are Irish.
Thousands of visitors arrive on the shores of Erin each year and leave with a special connection to a country they will forever more call home, because it is from here that their ancestors were forced to leave to make a better life from themselves and their families.
For the millions who claim to have Irish ancestry, a visit to the Celtic land is one that will never be forgotten. Tracing you family roots back to olde Ireland could never be easier with census information, shipping reports and land valuations online, but nothing sparks your imagination better than a visit home.
Come see where exactly your ancestors grew up and lived, find out from locals in small villages all over the country what it was like to live in your great, great, great grandparent’s era. There are local museums and information stores all over the country, and the Irish only love to tell stories. Some may be accurate descriptions, but many will be tales passed down through generations and will be embellished with a few add ons here and there!
Hike the mountain and valleys of your ancestors, drink the Guinness and whiskey you know they thirsted for in their new country and finally get to grip with the Irish fascination with potatoes. In Ireland we find a way to include this staple vegetable into every meal!
You think you know the colour green? You don’t have a clue, until you witness the 40 shades of green in an Irish country side. You need to get back to when smoke filled the small cottages from turf fires, when bread was baked over an open fire, not a closed oven and a cup of tea solved the majority of problems.
In a land which has breath taking scenery, structures older than the pyramids, where once the most learned scholars came to be educated you find a heaven of music, dance, song and the famous ‘craic’. You have not laughed until you have heard the ‘yearns’ of a charming old country man or cried as much until you have to say good bye.
For information on researching your Irish ancestry visit: http://www,rootsireland.ie or http://www.irishgenealogy.ie
