CAPITALS DUBLIN, BELFAST - POPULATION 5.9 MILLION (EIRE: 4.1 MILLION; NORTHERN IRELAND (NI): 1.7 MILLION) - AREA 83,856 SQ KM (EIRE: 70,280 SQ KM; NI: 13,576 SQ KM) - OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ENGLISH, GAELIC
Raise a pint of Guinness to Ireland in 2009 – the black stuff turns 250 and the craic will be cranked up at the stout's Dublin-based brewery. But can the Emerald Isle escape its clichés? No problem. Eire's west is becoming better known for surf breaks than boozers, and the newly opened North West Trail, a 326km circular cycle that passes through Donegal, Tyrone and Sligo, is great for pedaling off the hangover through tiny villages and past the crashing Atlantic. Now-peaceful Northern Ireland is seeing the real change – Belfast is buzzing, and wild pockets such as the Mourne Mountains are beckoning with hiking trails and solitude. |
