Finding Oz: The Magical Beauty of West Ireland

“Ireland is free and at peace, jobs are plentiful, the crime rate is low, everyone has health care and the government is committed to protecting the environment. To many Americans that starts to sound like the Land of Oz,” says Stephen Hartshorne, writer for GoNOMAD. Get a feel for the history and beauty of West Ireland in his article The West of Ireland: Stories in Stone.

“The West of Ireland is an especially good place to explore Irish history because it is the center of the ‘Gaeltacht’ — the part of Ireland where Irish, also called Gaelic, is the predominant language, and because here the history — not just of Ireland, but of the human race — is written in stone for all to see.

The great thing about archaeology is that we’re learning more and more all the time, and the research that goes on at the historic sites in Ireland is shedding new light on life in the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, the Middle Ages right up to the 19th century. The sites are very well managed — some by the European Union — with helpful informational displays.”