The Most Beautiful Villages of Ireland
by Christopher Fitz-Simon
The Most Beautiful Villages Of Ireland
Clusters of white cottages huddled in a fold between hills of an
unbelievably rich green . . . villages of a single street, dazzling in their
array of color washes and picturesque shop and bar signs. . . . Such are
the villages of Ireland, the most beautiful of which are captured in Hugh
Palmers evocative photographs and Christopher Fitz-Simons sensitive
commentaries. Beautiful though many of the villages of Ireland
undoubtedly are, they are also working, living communities. The vibrancy
and warmth in a village bar or local shop proclaim a culture not yet
submerged under mass tourism or the rash of vacation homes that have
blighted so many of Europes prettiest villages and robbed them of
traditional ways. Following the divisions of the ancient provinces--Ulster,
Leinster, Connacht, and Munster--the journey is full of fascinating rural
gems, some famous and others less well known. There are the coastal
villages of Cork with their handsome houses of many hues sloping down to
a sea that so many Irish crossed to found other communities in the United
States. Roscommon and Galway are proud of their medieval churches,

while Ulster villages look toward the Atlantic and seem to be girding
themselves against the rigors of the northern climate. Literary and
historical associations abound, as in Ardagh, site of pre-Christian
settlement and the place where Oliver Goldsmith was inspired to write She
Stoops to Conquer. The latest volume in the best-selling Most Beautiful
Villages series, this extraordinary visual and verbal record of the Irish
village is completed by a guide to the most important sites, markets,
hotels, and restaurants. 258 color photographs.
Personal Review: The Most Beautiful Villages of Ireland by
Christopher Fitz-Simon
This is a fantastic coffee table book. The photographer has captured so
much color in each photograph, you almost expect some sort of visual
explosion -- how can such a dynamically variegated palette be contained in
a single picture?! The whitewashed cottages, the blue-green sea, the dun
colored old castle walls... even the street signs are beautiful. I myself am
half of Irish descent, and half of Italian descent. Although I must confess
that in culinary terms, my Italian forebears had considerably more "on the
ball" than my Irish ancestors, this book makes me appreciate some of the
beauties that Ireland itself has to offer. It makes me determined to visit it
at some point.The book is divided into four parts. Each traditional ancient
Irish kingdom has its own section -- Ulster, Leinster, Connacht, and
Munster. Each section is also followed by a brief photographic essay,
dealing with such topics as "Ancient Ireland," "Bar and Shop Fronts," and
"Painted Villages." At the end, there is a useful map, a travellers guide
complete with phone numbers and addresses of Inns and hostels, and a
very handy little bibliography.I would just like to also recommend, for
anyone with an interest in Irish history, "The Atlas of Irish History" by Sean
Duffy. It is out of print, but you should ask your local librarian if he or she
can find it, using OCLC or inter-library loan. If, like me, you have Irish
blood in you, you will be familiar with the feeling of being quite alienated
from the broader sweep of European history prior to the settlement of
America. I once looked in the index of an encyclopedia, and actually found
more entries on Native Americans, who of course are considered to be a
marginalized people, than I could find on the Irish. This book, and the
atlas I recommended, can help remedy that situation, and "The Most
Beautiful Villages of Ireland" can beautify any home. Two thunbs up --
check this one out.
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