Tuesday 3 March 2009

G is for...

 Gougane Barra

Ireland again, but I couldn't just leave this one out, since it's one of my favourite places in the whole of Ireland! It's a monastery founded by Saint Finbar in the sixth century on an island in this small lake. The sky is the ceiling and the mountains are the walls. I always find the place very tranquil and peaceful and I would love to go and stay in the hotel on the edge of the little lake. There's also a national park adjacent, offering walking trails and beautiful scenery.

The lake is the beginning of the River Lee. After he founded the monastery at Gougane Barra, Finbar went down the river until he reached an island in the middle of the river. It was quite swampy, but he decided it was a nice place and founded another church. The Irish word for swamp is corcaigh, which in its English version became Cork.

Gougane Barra is in County Cork, in the so-called Gaeltacht. That means that the predominant language in the area is Gaelic (or Irish), instead of English. The amount of people speaking Gaelic as their first language is rapidly decreasing and the areas where the predominant language is Gaelic is shrinking as a result. However, during the last few years, the language has become more popular again, thanks to a few things: 1. TG4 is a television channel broadcasting mainly in Gaelic and 2. young people have realised that whenever they speak Gaelic, not many people can understand them, especially foreign English speakers.

For more G entries please check out: ABC Wednesday

20 comments:

  1. Lovely post! I wish I could visit there. I like the line about the sky being the ceiling and the mountains the walls.
    Glad to hear Gaelic is making a comeback.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, it is so pretty! I love it! What a wonderful G. Just beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a beautiful place! Your photo is excellent, and I enjoyed reading the information. Nice "G" post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. lakeside is a great place to be, thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a beautiful place.

    Thanks for sharing the information, as weel as the lovely photo.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a beautiful place. its so serene. Great choice for the letter G.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful photo and informative local information. I was at County Cook, Ireland almost 40 years ago and really like it. Thanks for bringing back this memory for me.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Interesting post and lovely photo. Hmm. What a great idea to speak a language that most people don't understand. I think that would appeal to many teenagers.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's WONDERFUL, I wish a clould spent some time there. The capture is brilliant.

    Take Care/ Tyra

    ReplyDelete
  10. That looks like a very peaceful place. Nice G!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am new to ABC Wednesday and so far I'm having so much fun visiting all of these wonderful blogs! Your blog is amazing! I have enjoyed your post and photo of this beautiful place in Ireland and reading and learning a bit about the Gaelic language. I hope to visit again.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Est ce au Québec que tu souhaites aller vivre ?

    ReplyDelete
  13. @Deslilas: Non, je voudrais vivre en Alberta, mais ça doit attendre encore un peu...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Beautiful photo with the reflection in the water. Must be wonderful country. Never been there, we often visited England and Scotland. Also very nice countries.
    Lovely post!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I wonder what made him think a swampy island was a good place for a church?

    Beautiful, beautiful scenery.

    ReplyDelete
  16. How beautiful it is! Peaceful and calming...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful photo...love the green against the bright blue sky....enjoyed the info also...

    ReplyDelete
  18. That's a beautiful photo with a lot of interesting information

    ReplyDelete
  19. Beautiful Ireland! I think the rising number of people speaking and learning Celtic languages like Gaelic and Welsh is a very positive thing for the UK and Ireland...although I have to say I managed to live in a Welsh speaking area of Wales for three years and picked up very little!

    ReplyDelete
  20. The scene is just beautiful and the reflection in the still water makes the photo superb.

    ReplyDelete

Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!