By: Marcia Abramson
The county of Femanagh is the home of the Belleek Potterworks where you can buy the fine artisan Belleek pottery. You can see how Double Damask Linen is made at the Ferguson Linen Centre at Banbridge in County Down, and at the borough of Lisburn there is the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum where I got to see the linen industry from 1854 to the present. Irish Double Damask Linen is famous the world over and has graced the tables of palaces and embassies. I did buy some expensive lace trimmed linen handkerchiefs and a biscuit caddy as memories of my visit to the "Linen Trail." A brief respite from shopping is a visit to the home of possibly the world's most famous literary sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, authors of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, who were brought up in the county Down countryside by their widowed father Patrick. The Irish tweeds and woolen knits are wonderful examples of the talents of Ireland's designers and weavers. My grandchildren, Bradley and Maris, did get some lovely hand knit Aran wool fisherman sweaters, ideal for skiing, as momentos of Grandma's trip to the Island of Ireland. Having satisfied my craving to help the economy of every country I visit, my next foray was into the world of Irish culture. The Abbey Theatre in Dublin lived up to all my expectations of extraordinary thought provoking drama with superb performances. I saw a new play "Ariel" by Marina Carr who has been described as a playwright with poetic vision. Her theme in Ariel deals with the exploration of power and corruption in contemporary Irish society. The main character is a politician seeking higher office, but threatened with scandal. He is haunted by ghosts of the past, but dreams of a future of political power and will sacrifice everything in pursuit of his goal including his 16-year-old daughter Ariel. It is a powerful drama influenced in my opinion by Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Unfortunately, my visit to the Emerald Isle was too brief for me to participate in the free Post-show discussion with the play's director or the Post-matinee panel discussion with jurists, criminologists and university professors. The Lyric Theatre in Belfast is also well worth being on your itinerary. Temple Bar, a short walk from my hotel, the St. Stephens Green Hotel, is where you can find Music Row. Music is known to be a national passion, from the rock of U2, Van Morrison and the Cranberries, to the glorious folk songs of Clannad, the Chieftains, Mary Black and the wonderful singing of the Irish Tenors. A very popular American import are the River Dancers who have appeared on Broadway for long runs. You should not leave Dublin without a walking tour of one or two traditional pubs which have music and snugs (enclosing tables partitioned off for privacy).Storytelling has always been an important part of Irish life. In fact, Ireland boasts one of the oldest vernacular literatures of any European people dating back to centuries before the Birth of Christ. I learned that the Irish were one of the first peoples outside the Roman world to learn how to write. They gained recognition for their calligraphy and illumination of religious texts. There is evidence that these scribes used the margins of the scrolls to record local tales. The Irish literary tradition is further enriched by existing in two languages and in two cultures. Irish literature in the English language has given the world the marvelous books of Dublin-born Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels; James Joyce's Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegan's Wake; Bram Stoker's Dracula; Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock. Nobel Peace Prize Winner and playwright George Bernard Shaw and dramatist, wit and aesthete Oscar Wilde also were native sons of Dublin. It was pointed out to me that Dublin, the city of Nobel Prizes for Literature, also acknowledges a crucial correctness between drink and literary genius. The Dublin Literary Pub Crawl is a must for you to share the alcoholic experience at one of the famous pubs, like the Duke, Mulligan's, McDaids, Neary and O'Neills. They are held on Fridays and Saturdays in November, December and January.I also enjoyed a pint of Guinness black ale at the Guinness Storehouse where all the ingredients and the processes are on display in this unique building. Every visitor to the Guinness Storehouse receives a complimentary pint as well as a fascinating tour of an industry that started 250 years ago.Another incentive to travel to the Island of Ireland is the low $99 one-way fare to Dublin on Aer Lingus. Additional information can be obtained by calling Tourism Ireland at 800-223-6470.
©Copyright by Marcia AbramsonE-mail: mascribe@aol.com
