By Sandy Katz

The national carrier of Ireland, Aer Lingus, brought me to Dublin with great Irish spirit because going on the national airline, you get the Irish hospitality and friendliness all the way across the sea. Charming Dublin, the capital of the republic of Ireland and Ireland’s largest city with a population of 1.5 million, welcomed me with open arms. Dublin is a delight to explore as it is a youthful city whose streets are steeped in ancient history and culture with Medieval, Georgian and modern architecture, cobbled city streets and leafy laneways.

Its history goes back 1,000 years, and it is famous for its literary tradition, wonderful shops, restaurants and 1,000 pubs. This lively, small cosmopolitan, manageable city has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

Dubliners just celebrated the 100th anniversary of James Joyce’s Ulysses- the book takes place over the course of one summer’s day in Dublin. Other literary greats were Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels; Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula; and the wickedly witty author and playwright Oscar Wilde.

Most of the city’s main attractions are within walking distance of the city center including: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Guinness Storehouse and Merrion Square. (www.visitdublin.com)

We were on a quest to venture to the Northern part of Ireland, so off we went to Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, which was a few hours ride from Dublin. Here we were in the glorious countryside. Our first stop was an overnight at Manor House Hotel, commanding a magnificent view of Lough Erne is an oasis of peace and tranquility within this beautiful 19th century architecture. (www.manor-house-hotel.com)

Here we were able to catch the cruise on Lady of the Lake. The three hour cruise down Lough Erne took us to Devenish Monastic Island and Devenish Monastic site of ruins. This is site of a 12th-century ruined Augustinian Monastery and its perfect 12th century tower.

In this county of Fermanagh resides Belleek pottery store and factory, which is famous for translucent porcelain since 1837 after deposits of creamy-lustre fieldspar was found at Castle Caldwell nearby. (www.Fermanaghlakelands.com, www.belleek.ie)

We continued to the northwest region of Ireland, where the landscape has been remarkably unaffected by passage of time and is a striking mixture of coastal beauty, rambling hills, mountains and lovely lakes.

Donegal Town tour included a visit to the Magees for a tweed demonstration. www.mageeshop.com . Following Magees, we visited Donegal Castle, built by the O’Donnell Chieftain in the 15th century, rebuilt in Jacobean style in 16th century by Sir Basil-Brooke.

Lunch and afternoon activities were at Glencolmcille, the folk village, which offers visitors the chance to relive life as experienced by the people of southwestern Donegal in 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century Ireland.

In Letterkenny, the largest town in County Donegal, we toured County Museum, which houses a fascinating range of artifacts covering all aspects of life in Donegal. The museum charts the history of the county over the last three centuries. It is based in the fine old stone building, once part of the Letterkenny Workhouse, built in 1846.

Our next visit was to Glenveagh National Park where 16,000 hectares of mountains, lakes, glens, a large herd of red deer and the central feature is a 19th century castle surrounded by the famous Glenveagh Gardens. This is one of the heritage sites of Ireland. (www.heritageireland.ie )

The next morning, we visited Lifford heritage center, where we saw the Flight of the Earls illustrated. This flight references the traumatic episode in 1607 when Gaelic Earls fled to Europe to rally support against the English and never returned.

Then we visited Cavanacor, Ballindralt, Lifford, birthplace of U.S. President James Polk. We continued the next day to Derry, Ireland’s historic walled city, where visitors can walk the one-mile route along the city’s walls. It is finest example of walled city in Europe and it has been kept in splendid condition of preservation. (www.derryvisitor.com)

To the north is the dramatic coastline of Antrim Giant’s causeway. The Bushmills Distillery was the last stop for carriages from Belfast before the final push to the Causeway, two miles away. Passengers got out to relive