All language subtitles for Aerial Ireland 1080p HDTV x264 AAC MVGroup EN Sub

NARRATOR: Ireland. A verdant
jewel in the Eastern Atlantic.

Europe’s most western frontier.

From the towering
cliffs of its wild sea coasts

to unique geological formations
forged by volcanic fire,

Ireland is a land of
spectacular natural beauty --

the glorious backdrop of
more than ten thousand years

of human civilization.

From a city of the dead that’s
older than the Pyramids of Egypt

to the beach where
director Stephen Spielberg

filmed the opening
scene of Saving Private Ryan .

Where else would you
find the country home

of the Lord of the Dance and
the birthplace of the Titanic?

Ancient ruins that
bring Game of Thrones to life

and a national sport that became
the ancestor of ice hockey.

A country whose rich cultural
legacy and living history

inspired
generations of storytellers.

This is an Ireland
you’ve never seen before.

A nation whose unique blend
of tradition and modernity

has made it a
bastion of the digital age.

[♪ theme music ♪]

♪ ♪

Sunrise in Dublin --
Ireland’s capital city

on the country’s east coast.

Inhabited since prehistoric
times, Dublin’s city origins

lie with the invading Vikings,
who sailed up the River Liffey

in the tenth century AD to
establish a settlement here.

A thousand years on, Dublin is
a city of 1.3 million people.

From the streets
built on Viking foundations

to the medieval
majesty of Dublin Castle

and the spires of
St. Patrick’s Cathedral,

Dublin’s architectural
legacy is writ large.

Among its most celebrated
and historic precincts

are the great Georgian Squares
laid out in the 18th century,

a golden age that would
also witness the foundation

of Dublin’s most
iconic commercial enterprise.

This is St. James’s
Gate Brewery, ancestral home

of "the Black
Stuff," Guinness Stout,

one of Ireland’s
most recognizable brands.

In 1759, when the Irish brewer
and entrepreneur Arthur Guinness

took out a 9000-year
lease on St. James’s Gate,

he was supplied
with crystal-clear water

from the Wicklow Mountains to
brew his beer, free of charge.

At the heart of
the brewery stands

the famous Guinness Storehouse.

This seven-story museum
dedicated to the company’s

history is topped with a
sky bar where visitors enjoy

a free sample of the famous brew
and panoramic views of a city

still in the process
of monumental change.

♪ ♪

Since the 1990s, the
once-derelict Dublin docklands

have been
transformed into a vibrant new

residential and
business quarter.

It’s known as the Digital
Docklands, or, alternatively,

Silicon Dock,

overshadowed by Dublin’s
tallest commercial building,

Hyperlink, the European
headquarters of Google.

♪ ♪

Downstream, the 680-foot
red-and-white striped chimneys

of Poolbeg are one of
Dublin’s most beloved

and iconic landmarks,

immortalized in the
music video for "Pride"

by the city’s most
famous musical export, U2.

♪ ♪

Ireland’s best-known
rock group started life here

at Mount Temple School in
the North Dublin suburbs when,

in 1974, a young drummer named
Larry Mullen posted a notice

looking for like-minded
musicians to form a band.

Lead singer Bono grew
up here at Cedarwood Road

in the North City, a suburb
made famous by U2’s album

Songs of Innocence .

U2 have left their
mark all over Dublin.

The band once owned the
Clarence Hotel in Temple Bar,

the city’s cultural quarter.

Bono now resides here at
Temple Hill, a grand mansion

in the salubrious suburb of
Killiney, where his neighbors

have included singer
Enya, film director Neil Jordan

and Formula One
racing driver Eddie Ervine.

For a few years in the
1980’s, Bono lived here at

the glass-roofed Martello Tower
in the seaside town of Bray,

south of Dublin.

One of over fifty military forts
dotted around the Irish coast,

they were decommissioned
in the 19th century,

but have attracted
artists and writers ever since,

among them the great
Irish novelist James Joyce.

One of the finest
writers of the 20th century,

James Joyce spent most of his
life abroad,

and yet virtually all
his work centers on Dublin,

capturing the spirit of
the city in the early 1900’s.

His masterpiece,
the novel Ulysses ,

begins here at
the Martello Tower

beside the famous
forty-foot swimming spot

in the picturesque South
Dublin suburb of Sandycove.

Here, in September
1904, Joyce spent six nights

with fellow writer
Oliver St. John Gogarty,

on whom he based one of
Ulysses ’s main characters,

the irrepressible Buck Mulligan.

On the final night of his
stay, Joyce was jolted awake

as Gogarty fired a
revolver into the pots and pans

overhanging Joyce’s bed.

Soon afterwards, Joyce
left Ireland, never forgotten,

but never to return.

He wasn’t the only writer
whose legacy remains written

into the fabric of the city.

Here on Merrion
Square in Central Dublin

is a monument to the great
poet, wit and literary genius

Oscar Wilde.

Born in Dublin in
1854, Wilde became one of

the greatest playwrights
of the 19th century.

But the author of The
Importance of Being Earnest

and The Picture of Dorian Gray

was also a victim of
the prejudice of his time.

Imprisoned in
England for two years

on account of his homosexuality,

Wilde would remain defiant,
dignified and, above all,

a Dubliner.

"Be yourself," Wilde once said.

"Everyone else
is already taken."

This reclining statue,
with its sardonic grace,

is a fitting tribute to
one of Ireland’s most colorful

and celebrated writers.

Another of Dublin’s 19th
century literary masters

was Bram Stoker,
the author of Dracula .

Born in 1847 here at Marino
Crescent in the North Dublin

suburb of Clontarf,
Stoker is said to have based

some of the morbid
details of Dracula

on his mother’s recollections
of the cholera epidemic

that swept Ireland in 1832,

claiming tens of
thousands of lives.

Stoker and Oscar
Wilde knew each other well,

having spent time
together as students

at Dublin’s most famous
university, Trinity College.

Established in 1592
by Queen Elizabeth I,

Trinity is Ireland’s
oldest university, modeled on

the great English colleges
of Oxford and Cambridge.

Along with 200,000
of the college’s oldest

and rarest books, Trinity’s
18th century old library

displays an
extraordinary national treasure

on its ground floor:
The Book of Kells , an

intricate illuminated manuscript
dating from around 800 AD.

Containing the four
Gospels of the New Testament

laid out in vibrantly
illustrated Celtic script,

The Book of Kells is
one of the most priceless

medieval artifacts on Earth.

Another historically important
document enshrined here

is a copy of the
Irish Proclamation of 1916.

♪ ♪

When rebel leader Padraig
Pearse read the proclamation

beneath the portico of
Dublin’s general post office,

it was one of the
most significant events

of 20th-century Irish history.

It signaled the start
of the Easter Rising,

a momentous rebellion
against nearly 800 years

of British colonial rule.

In 1916, hundreds of
Irish rebels took up

defensive positions around
Dublin, using the post office

on O’Connell Street
as their headquarters.

Defeated by British forces after
a week of bloody fighting,

their sacrifice sent 26
of Ireland’s 32 counties

on the road to independence.

Ultimately, the six
counties of Northern Ireland

would remain part
of the United Kingdom.

♪ ♪

On March 17th, the world
celebrates the feast day

of Saint Patrick,
Ireland’s patron saint.

The symbol of this national
holiday is the shamrock,

a three-leafed clover St.
Patrick is said to have used

to explain the
mystery of the Holy Trinity

to his pagan converts.

The Saint Patrick’s
Day Parade in Dublin

is the biggest and most colorful
outside of New York City,

with half a million Dubliners
and a hundred thousand visitors

from around the
world lining the streets

for the most joyful
open-air party of the year.

The parade route
leads from O’Connell street

to St. Patrick’s Cathedral,
whose 18th-century dean

was also one of Ireland’s most
famous writers, Jonathan Swift.

Although Swift is
largely associated with Dublin,

his holiday home here
in the Irish midlands

inspired his most famous book.

This is Lilliput House on
the south shore of Lough Ennel

in County Westmeath.

It’s said that while
boating out on the lake,

Swift was struck by
how small people looked

on the distant shoreline.

It became the seed of
an idea for the novel

Gulliver’s Travels .

On the far side
of the lake stands

the imposing 18th-century
mansion of Belvedere House.

The sinister legacy of its
owner is said to have inspired

the novelist Charlotte Bronte

to write the dark
classic Jane Eyre .

Landowner Robert Rochfort
was a cruel and petty man.

Incensed when his
older brother built

a much grander house nearby,

Rochfort had a huge
Gothic ruin constructed

to block it from view.

Known as the Jealous
Wall, the folly still stands,

a monument to one
man’s bitterness and spite.

50 miles east of Belvedere House

in the
neighboring county of Meath

stands a monument of an
altogether different kind.

Over five thousand years old,

it was built to connect
the living and the dead.

NARRATOR:
The ancient Irish believed
that the living and the dead

shared the Earth, drawn together
by the changing seasons

and aligned by the
light of the sun --

a sophisticated spirituality
that they enshrined

in great earthen cemeteries.

Here, on a bend of the
River Boyne in County Meath

stands the
necropolis of Brú Na Boinne.

Built a thousand years before
the earliest Egyptian pyramid,

this great
2000-acre city of the dead

contains over 40 ancient tombs.

12 meters high and 67 meters
across, the great earthen mound

of Knowth contains
two burial chambers

where the cremated remains
of the dead were placed.

A mile southeast lies the
centerpiece of Brú Na Boinne,

Newgrange.

A tomb containing a
single burial chamber,

ringed with shining
quartz rock and inscribed with

mysterious neolithic symbols,
it was built around 3200 BC.

But this is more
than just a tomb.

At the winter solstice,
the rays of dawn shine

along a precisely aligned stone
shaft built into the mound,

illuminating the
burial chamber deep within.

A symbolic moment,
signaling renewal, rebirth,

and the start of a new year.

♪ ♪

Carved out by glaciers
during the last ice age,

the stunning lake
valley of Glendalough

in the Wicklow
Mountains south of Dublin

is home to one of Ireland’s
oldest monastic sites.

In the 6th century,
the hermit monk St. Kevin

is said to have lived
here in the hollow of a tree,

communing with God, far from
the distractions of the world.

With Europe plunged into
the turmoil of the Dark Ages,

Ireland was a beacon of light.

Glendalough would evolve
into a great monastic complex

overshadowed by an elegant
medieval Irish round tower.

With their doors placed
high above ground level,

these buildings were
once thought to offer refuge

against Viking raiders.

It’s more likely, however,
that they were bell towers

and storehouses
for religious relics.

Overshadowed by its modern
basilica, the town of Knock

in the west of Ireland is one
of the country’s most revered

Catholic pilgrimage sites.

Here, one rainy
night in the fall of 1879,

fifteen people
claimed to have witnessed

an extraordinary apparition.

A vision of the
Virgin Mary, St. Joseph

and St. John the Evangelist,
all three standing motionless,

above the
ground, deep in prayer.

Some say it was a hoax,
others claim a miracle.

Either way, the meaning
of the reported apparition

remains a mystery.

♪ ♪

According to another mysterious
Irish legend, the devil himself

took a bite out of
this mountain in Tipperary

-- and spat it out
here, forming a hill called

the Rock of Cashel.

A spectacular
ecclesiastical site occupies

the summit of the
rock, surrounded by a ring

of ancient fortifications.

At its core, a
complete medieval round tower

and the ruin of a
Gothic cathedral.

This was the ancient
seat of Ireland’s kings,

the most famous of
whom was Brian Boru,

who attempted to unify the
whole island under one rule.

♪ ♪

In 1014 AD, his armies
defeated the Vikings of Dublin.

Though Brian Boru was
killed on the field of battle,

his victory secured
peace and prosperity

at a time of intense
tribal war in Ireland.

♪ ♪

The wild beauty of the Wicklow
Mountains forms the backdrop

to dozens of
grand country estates.

Here, in a quiet valley at
the north end of Lough Tay,

is one of the finest -- the
fairy-tale castle of Luggala.

Owned by Garech De Brun
of the Guinness family,

the castle has hosted some
fabulous parties over the years,

attended by celebrities like
Angelica Huston and Mick Jagger.

The Luggala estate has
featured in Hollywood epics

from King
Arthur to Braveheart .

More recently, the valley
doubled as a Scandinavian fjord

for the TV saga, Vikings .

♪ ♪

If Curracloe
Strand in County Wexford

seems strangely familiar,

it’s probably because you’ve
seen this glorious stretch

of sand and dunes before.

Imagine the roar
of landing craft

and the deafening sound of
machine guns and artillery.

In 1997, Curracloe
doubled as Omaha Beach

in the brutal opening
scenes of Stephen Spielberg’s

World War II epic,
Saving Private Ryan .

The imposing fortress of
Trim Castle in County Meath

featured extensively in
Mel Gibson’s Braveheart,

doubling as the besieged citadel

of York and London’s
medieval Smithfield,

where the hero
William Wallace is executed.

Built in 1173 by the Anglo
Norman baron Hugh De Lacy,

the castle was
once a powerful symbol

of English rule in Ireland.

In the 1970s, excavations
revealed ten headless

skeletons -- the remains of
executed thieves whose heads

were mounted on
spikes on the castle walls.

In the late Middle Ages, the
fortress defended the outer edge

of the Pale -- the
part of east Ireland

dominated by the English.

Everything outside was
considered the lawless,

uncivilized domain
of the native Irish.

Hence the phrase
"beyond the pale."

Far from the supposed
civilization of the medieval

Pale lies one of Ireland’s
most unique natural terrains,

an ancient landscape filled
with extraordinary secrets.

NARRATOR: Here on the Atlantic
coast of County Clare lies one

of Ireland’s most extraordinary
natural landscapes,

the 96-square mile limestone
terrain of the Burren.

A sacred place since prehistory,
the Burren is dotted

with ancient ruins
from churches to tombs,

all symbolizing a connection
between this world and the next.

Here, the temperature
of the bedrock remains

above 43 degrees
Fahrenheit all year round,

supporting an incredibly
rich and diverse ecosystem,

where arctic,
Mediterranean and alpine plants

grow side by side.

The region is
home to three-quarters

of Ireland’s wildflowers,
including rare orchids,

thriving alongside
hundreds of insect species.

♪ ♪

At the southwestern
edge of the Burren stand

the spectacular Cliffs of Moher.

Rising at Hag’s
Head in the south,

they reach their highest
point -- over 700 feet --

five miles to the north.

This is O’Brien’s Tower, built
in 1835 by the Irish politician

Sir Cornelius O’Brien.

An early pioneer of
tourism, he was so prolific

that the locals say he
built everything around here

except the cliffs.

Every year, a million
visitors come to marvel

at the spectacular panorama.

♪ ♪

The nearby town of Lahinch,
with its vast Atlantic beaches,

is one of Ireland’s most
popular surfing destinations.

Here, in the summer
of 2006, 44 surfers

managed to ride the same crest,
setting a new world record.

♪ ♪

At the edge of Clew
Bay on the Mayo coast,

a medieval Irish tower
stands guard over the waters.

This is Rockfleet, once
the home of the powerful

16th-century pirate
queen, Grace O’Malley,

who commanded a private
army, her own fleet of ships

and a string of fortresses
along the Atlantic coast.

In 1593, she sailed her pirate
galleon up the Thames to London

to parlay with the
English queen, Elizabeth I.

O’Malley initially
shocked the queen’s courtiers

by refusing to bow,
but the meeting went well.

Though the pirate queen
never achieved her goal

of freedom for her
people, she died unconquered,

a rebel to the very end.

250 years after the
time of Grace O’Malley,

the landscape of
Ireland was changed forever.

These abandoned
cottages are ghostly reminders

of the Great Famine of 1845.

At the time, nearly three
and a half million people --

the poorest two fifths
of Ireland’s population --

were entirely dependent on
a single crop: the potato.

A devastating blight wiped out
harvests across the country.

On the hill of
Slievemore are all that remains

of a once-thriving
farming community.

These ridged
terraces known as "lazy beds"

once supplied the
inhabitants with the one crop

that kept them alive.

In the space of ten
years, a million died,

and a further million emigrated
to America and Canada.

As they poured into Ellis
Island, the country they left

behind was damaged in ways
that have never been forgotten.

One of the many famines of Irish
history, the Great Hunger of

1845 has left the most lasting
mark on the Irish psyche,

a symbol of the
oppression and abandonment

of a dispossessed people.

♪ ♪

The lush pastures and dramatic
seascapes of County Sligo

were once a rich
source of inspiration

for one of Ireland’s
most celebrated poets.

This is the tabletop
mountain of Ben Bulben,

a great limestone
plateau sculpted by glaciers

during the last ice age.

From the top,
climbers enjoy panoramic views

of the spectacular landscape
known as Yeats Country.

The poem "Under Ben Bulben"
was one of the last written

by William Butler Yeats.

The closing lines are famously
inscribed on his tombstone

here at the churchyard
of Drumcliffe in Sligo:

"Cast a cold eye, on life,
on death. Horseman, pass by!"

♪ ♪

Another champion of
the unspoiled beauty

of the west of Ireland was the
American director John Ford.

Cong Village in
County Mayo was the backdrop

to his iconic 1952
film The Quiet Man ,

starring John Wayne
and Maureen O’Hara.

Many of its
locations are still preserved,

including the scene of
the film’s epic fistfight.

On the far side of
Lough Outerard stands

the Quiet Man Bridge,
where Wayne’s character,

the returned
immigrant Sean Thornton,

spies his family
home for the first time.

The elegant Ashford Castle
also figures in Ford’s film.

One of Ireland’s most
exclusive five-star hotels,

its illustrious guests
have included King George V,

Oscar Wilde, Ronald Reagan
and Beatle George Harrison.

♪ ♪

Galway City at the
mouth of the Corrib River

is the de facto capital
of the west of Ireland.

Galway, nicknamed "City
of the Tribes," originates

with the fourteen
ruling merchant clans

who made it a hub of
international commerce

during the Middle Ages.

The city was once
Ireland’s main port of trade

with France and Spain.

The medieval
Church of St. Nicholas

has seen many famous
visitors over the years,

including Christopher
Columbus, who prayed here

some years before his historic
voyage to the New World.

The city’s annual film
festival continues to attract

latter-day celebrities
too, including the star

of The West
Wing , Martin Sheen.

In 2006, at the age of
66, he enrolled as a student

of English literature,
philosophy and theology

at the University of Galway.

Nestled in the mouth of Galway
Bay are the three Aran Islands,

Inishmore,
Inishmaan, and Inisheer.

They’re home to some of the
oldest archaeological remains

in Ireland, early
Christian beehive huts,

meandering
prehistoric dry-stone walls,

and ancient strongholds,
including the Iron Age fort

of Dun Aonghasa, constructed
between 1100 and 500 BC.

Perched atop a
330-foot cliff on Inishmore,

the fort was once a complete
oval before the outer edge

of the cliff
collapsed into the sea.

The first
language of Aran is Irish.

Here, the
country’s official tongue

is preserved
zealously and spoken daily.

♪ ♪

Galway’s
Gaeltacht region is home

to national
broadcasting institutions,

including the country’s leading
Irish language radio station

and TV network.

Twelve miles
west of Galway City,

the picturesque
coastal village of Spiddal

is also known as Ros Na
Run, or "Glen of Secrets" --

filming location of
the country’s best-loved

Irish-language soap opera.

Until the Middle Ages, Gaelic
was the predominant language

of the Irish people.

Since the great
famine of the 19th century,

which deprived the country
of 2 million native speakers,

Irish has been in decline.

Once the second-most
spoken language after English,

it’s now third, after Polish.

And yet its
legacy remains strong.

English -- as
spoken in Ireland --

has a structure, rhythm and
vocabulary all based on Irish,

a prime example being
the Irish word craic ,

meaning fun,
mischief, and good times,

clearly defined to the world

during one memorable
U.S. presidential visit.

In the summer of 2011,
President Barack Obama

turned the sleepy hamlet
of Moneygall, population 300,

into the biggest
little village in the West.

The cause of the media frenzy
was one Falmouth Kearney,

a 19-year-old shoemaker
who emigrated from Moneygall

to New York City in 1850.

Local historians
discovered he was none other

than President Obama’s maternal
great great grandfather.

When the first couple came
to town, they were greeted

by crowds of locals,
including Henry Healy,

the president’s
eighth cousin, known locally

as Henry the Eighth.

After a visit to his
ancestral home, the President

spent an evening
at Ollie Hayes’s pub,

pulling pints
with enraptured locals

with the world’s
media gathered outside.

Unveiled three years
after the historic visit,

the Barack Obama Plaza has given

this once-remote rural backwater
a whole new lease on life.

An estimated 100
million people around the world

claim Irish ancestry.

President Obama was
only one of many Americans

keen to reconnect
with their Irish roots.

Here on the banks of the
River Blackwater in County Cork

stands the magnificent Palladian
mansion of Castlehyde House,

bought and refurbished to
the tune of $34 million by

Irish-American entertainer and
undisputed lord of the dance,

Michael Flatley.

The Riverdance star wasn’t
the first celebrated owner.

Castlehyde was once the family
home and childhood residence

of Gaelic scholar Douglas Ross
Hyde, the man who, in 1938,

became the first
president of Ireland.

20 miles south of
Castlehyde stands

an even more famous castle.

A place where, as legend has it,
the "Gift of the Gab" was born.

NARRATOR:
600 years ago, the Irish
chieftain Cormac MacCarthy

built a castle at
Blarney near Cork City,

little knowing the fame
it would one day enjoy.

For decades, eager
tourists have come here to kiss

the Blarney Stone, a
limestone block built into

the top of the
castle’s battlement tower.

According to legend, the stone
bestows the "Gift of the Gab" --

a magical ability
to converse fluently.

To kiss the stone, visitors must
literally bend over backwards,

suspended beyond the
edge of the parapet.

At one time, the kiss involved
a real risk to life and limb,

as participants
were taken by the ankles

and dangled from
the battlements.

♪ ♪

This is Killarney National Park

in the
neighboring county of Kerry.

40 square miles of lakes and
woodland, home to native species

from oak and yew forests
to herds of Irish red deer

that have thrived
here since the Ice Age.

Killarney’s three
lakes are framed by

the Great MacGillycuddy
Reeks mountain range,

where a dangerous three and
a half thousand foot ascent

leads to the summit of Ireland’s
highest peak, Carrauntoohill.

♪ ♪

To the north lies the
historic town of Killarney,

childhood home of
actor Michael Fassbender,

star of 12 Years
a Slave and X-Men .

The Hollywood star
attended school here

at Saint Brendan’s College.

But the town has an even more
impressive former resident.

Killarney was once home to
a man justifiably regarded

as the Oscar
Schindler of Ireland.

Born in 1898, Hugh
O’Flaherty grew up here

at the local golf course where
his father worked as a steward.

Taking religious
orders as a young man,

he was posted to the
Vatican during World War II.

Using the Irish
embassy as his refuge,

O’Flaherty
operated a secret network,

hiding Jewish
refugees and allied soldiers

in safe houses around the city.

He was so adept at
evading the Gestapo

that he became known as

the "Scarlet
Pimpernel of the Vatican,"

eventually saving
6,500 people from the Nazis.

The monsignor died in 1965.

Today, a monument to his
honor stands in Killarney Town.

♪ ♪

Separated from the
mainland by a deep chasm,

the Peninsula of
Mizen Head in County Cork

is Ireland’s most
southern extreme.

290 miles north
as the crow flies,

Malin Head Lighthouse in Donegal
is the most northerly point.

One of the great unspoiled
wilderness terrains of Ireland,

County Donegal extends
across 1800 square miles

of the northwest.

A third of the population speak
Irish as their first language.

Up here, as the
locals say, it’s different.

In the east of the county,

the monastic site of
Station Island on Lough Derg

hides a subterranean cave where
the 5th century Saint Patrick

is said to have experienced
a vision of heaven and hell.

For centuries, pilgrims came
here to atone for their sins.

In 1763, the original monastery
was replaced by a basilica,

where the faithful
still come to pray,

fasting for three
days as they walk barefoot

around the remains of
the old monastic cells.

Sealed in 1632,
St. Patrick’s Cave

has never been opened since.

The most westerly of the six
counties of Northern Ireland,

Fermanagh, is known
as the Lake County,

and from above,
it’s easy to see why.

The terrain is dominated by the
great expanse of Lough Erne,

two connected lakes
dotted with 154 islands

and a maze of
inlets and peninsulas.

In 1994, this great waterway
was linked by a 40-mile canal

to the Shannon
River in the south,

creating a
continuous navigable passage

between Northern
Ireland and the republic.

♪ ♪

Belfast, on the east
coast of Northern Ireland,

is Ireland’s second-largest
city after Dublin.

Its administrative
center, City Hall,

celebrates a charter granted
in 1888 by Queen Victoria.

In the late 19th century,

Belfast was the
world’s largest linen producer

and one of Britain’s
great industrial powerhouses.

♪ ♪

But Belfast also bears the scars

of Northern
Ireland’s sectarian conflict.

The Europa, in the city center,
has a dark claim to fame.

Attacked no fewer than 28 times,

it’s arguably the
world’s most bombed hotel.

The bitter 30-year
legacy of the troubles

can still be seen today.

Sectarian division is evident

in the high,
reinforced "peace lines"

that separate two of the
city’s neighboring communities.

On the left, the
Shankhill -- loyal to Britain.

On the right, the Falls Road --
dedicated to a united Ireland.

If there’s one industry
that has defined Belfast

more than any
other, it’s shipbuilding.

The Harland & Wolff shipyard on
Queen’s Island in East Belfast,

overshadowed by its two
towering gantry cranes,

Samson and Goliath, was
originally founded in 1861.

Here, in 1909, work began

on the world’s largest passenger
vessel -- RMS Titanic.

This sculptural building houses

the Titanic Belfast
Visitor Experience,

a museum
celebrating the construction

of the world’s most
tragic ocean liner.

More than 800 feet
long and 100 feet high,

Titanic required a huge
expansion of the shipyard

and a workforce
of over 3,000 men,

eight of whom died
during construction.

To the north of Belfast
lies one of Northern Ireland’s

most evocative landscapes,
the County Antrim coast.

Some know it by another name
-- the Kingdom of Westeros.

NARRATOR: Once home to
powerful Gaelic families,

County Antrim in
Northeast Ulster

is a landscape of ancient
fortresses, dramatic seascapes

and towering cliffs.

No wonder that it was
chosen as the location

for one of the most famous
TV sagas of recent years,

Game of Thrones .

Teetering
precariously on steep cliffs

overlooking the North Atlantic

stands the
dramatic Dunluce Castle,

also known as the
House of Greyjoy.

The castle was
once the stronghold

of the Irish and Scottish clans
McDonnell and MacDonald.

According to local legend,
part of the kitchen collapsed

and fell into the sea,
leaving one survivor --

a serving boy sitting in
the only remaining corner

of the destroyed room.

♪ ♪

But of all the atmospheric
locations in Northern Ireland,

one stands out.

As if tumbling into the sea on
the rugged North Antrim coast,

the Giant’s Causeway,

formed after a period of
intense volcanic activity,

is one of the most
distinctive rock formations

anywhere on Earth.

Between 50 and 60
million years ago, lava

cooling and
cracking like mud in the sun

formed some 40,000 interlocking
hexagonal basalt columns.

Over eons, the columns
have been weathered by the wind

and waves, creating distinctive
towers and mounds of rock.

According to legend,
the causeway is the ruin

of a land bridge to Scotland
created by the Irish giant

Finn MacCool after
being challenged to a fight

by the Scottish
giant Benandonner.

A fight he gladly
accepted, and won.

This old train,
traveling along two miles

of narrow gauge track,

links the Giant’s Causeway with
the historic town of Bushmills,

home to the oldest licensed
whiskey distillery in the world,

founded in 1608.

Though the Scots and the Irish

both claim to have invented
whiskey, most historians

maintain that its origins
are actually Moorish or Arabic.

Throughout the 20th
century, various factors,

from U.S.
Prohibition to trade disputes,

left the Irish
whiskey industry in decline.

By the 1970s, Bushmills

was one of only two
surviving distilleries.

These days there are 12,
and the future looks safe.

Of course, the
Irish hold no grudge

against their American
cousins. How could they?

The links between
the two countries

are stronger than
the fieriest malt.

♪ ♪

The game of hurling
is one of Ireland’s

most popular national sports.

Played on a 100-by-160-yard
field, opposing teams

pass and strike a
leather ball called a sliotar

with flattened sticks
called hurls, scoring points

above and below the cross bar
of the goalposts at either end.

Played on the frozen ponds of
Nova Scotia by Irish immigrants

in the 18th century, the
game would one day evolve

into the modern
sport of ice hockey.

♪ ♪

Welcome to the other Holywood --

famous for
entirely different reasons.

This is Holywood
Golf Club in County Down,

the first training ground of
former world number one golfer,

Rory McIlroy.

Introduced to the game
by his father at age 7,

Rory was the
youngest member of the club,

and could once be seen
practicing here every day.

Twenty years on, McIlroy is
a four-time Majors champion,

winning the 2011 US Open

with a tournament
record-beating score.

♪ ♪

Derry, in the
northwest of Ulster,

is Ireland’s
fourth-largest city.

At its heart stands one of
the most impressive city walls

in Europe.

26 feet high and 30 feet
wide, the battlements --

built in 1618 --
have never been breached.

Hence, the
nickname, Maiden City.

Derry has had a
troubled history.

On January 30th, 1972,
British troops opened fire

on a peaceful civil rights march
in the city’s Bogside area,

killing fourteen civilians.

The atrocity inspired one
of U2’s most famous songs,

"Sunday Bloody Sunday."

Since the end of
the troubles in 1998,

the mood here has changed.

Completed in 2011, the sinuous
walkway of the Peace Bridge

has unified a city whose name
is a legacy of old divisions.

To the mainly protestant
population of the waterside,

it’s Londonderry, after
the London trade guilds

who founded the walled town.

To Catholics on the city
side, it’s simply Derry.

♪ ♪

The Peace Bridge,
linking both communities,

is a symbol of renewed hope.

♪ ♪

In 2013, the County
Antrim town of Ballymena

honored its most famous
son, the actor Liam Neeson,

star of Schindler’s
List and Star Wars .

Neeson was born and raised here,

attending St. Patrick’s College,
the high school that inspired

his love of drama and gave
him his first acting role --

a school play in
which he played the lead

at the tender age of 11.

Jedi master Qui Gon Jinn

may not have
survived The Phantom Menace ,

but the Star Wars franchise
would return to Ireland.

♪ ♪

Rising 700 feet
above the Atlantic,

seven and a half
miles west of County Kerry,

stands the towering sea crag
of Skellig Michael -- once home

to a community of monks
who founded a settlement here

in the 6th century.

Uninhabited since
medieval times, Skellig Michael

is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A strictly limited
number of visitors are admitted

during the summer months.

A winding path of 618
stone steps leads to the summit

and the perfectly
formed beehive huts

where the monks lived a
life of quiet contemplation.

In 2014, this became the
extraordinary climactic location

of Star Wars:
The Force Awakens .

And from the
air, you can see why.

The jagged pinnacle,
hemmed in by the ocean,

is like nowhere else on earth.

Visiting Skellig in 1910,
the Dublin-born playwright

George Bernard
Shaw described it as

an incredible,
impossible, mad place,

and part of our dream world.

Ireland:

an ancient landscape
inscribed with 10,000 years

of human history and culture --

an illustrated
manuscript like no other.