Ireland is rich in myths and legends, and the Irish nation is one of the oldest in Europe, with roots going back thousands of years. One well-known tale tells of St. Patrick driving out wild snakes, but in fact, there have never been any snakes in Ireland. Besides red deer, squirrels, and badgers, bats make up nearly a quarter of all land mammals in Ireland. This might be where Bram Stoker found some inspiration for Dracula! Born in Ireland and raised in Dublin, he had never traveled to Eastern Europe. There is a story of an Irish wizard and chieftain believed to be a vampire king, so giving him the shape of a bat could be how the legend began.
There is so much more to Ireland however, and it boasts a rich heritage dating back centuries. At the Céide Fields, preserved beneath a blanket of peat in present-day County Mayo, is an extensive field system, arguably the oldest in the world. Consisting of small divisions separated by dry-stone walls, the fields were farmed for several centuries between 3,500 and 3,000 BC. The Earls of Rosse were great inventors and in their castle studied things such as photography and engineering. Most famous, however, is the Rosse Telescope, which was built in the 1800s by one of the Earls and held the record for largest telescope in the entire world for the better part of a century.
Nowadays one of Ireland’s great claims to fame is Guinness, and Ireland is ranked 4th in a list of the world’s biggest consumers of beer per person! This popular dry stout is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, and as the original Guinness Brewery in Dublin has a 9,000 year lease on its property, there should be plenty of this famous brew to satisfy its devoted followers.