Photographer Page

Chris Hill

Pilgrims climb Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland, on Reek Sunday. The tradition, which occurs on the last Sunday in July, is in honour of St. Patrick, and dates back hundreds of years.

Sliabh Liag features some of Ireland’s tallest, most spectacular sea cliffs. A coastal motor route in County Donegal also offers breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean, the Sligo Mountains, and Donegal Bay.

The Lough Salt Drive in Donegal, Ireland, is a long stretch of straight country road that grazes the western shores of Salt Lake before approaching the Atlantic.

St. Vitus Cathedral, Czech Republic Prague Castle’s French Gothic-inspired cathedral, where Czech coronations took place, follows a succession of churches (including the original Romanesque rotunda) and took 600 years to construct, debuting its finished design in 1929.

This Country Tipperary town became Ireland’s first Toward Zero Waste Community in 2017 when Irish environmental charity VOICE launched the “Towards Zero Waste Cashel” pilot program. With an emphasis on zero waste as a journey rather than a destination, the initiative focuses on waste prevention, education, composting, community collaboration, and strategies toward a circular economy.

According to ancient legend, the Irish warrior giant Finn McCool created the Giant’s Causeway so as to avoid getting his feet wet while walking between Northern Ireland and the coast of Scotland. Geologists now insist that the 40,000 or so mostly hexagonal basalt columns were formed by volcanic activity some 60 million years ago—not by giants—but there’s still something magical about the columns’ rugged symmetry as they descend from the rocky cliffs and disappear into the sea. Visitors to the Giant’s Causeway can stair-step their own route down past unusual rock formations to the wild North Atlantic, or climb the Shepherd’s Steps for a bird’s-eye view of the rocky coastline. A visitors center, opened in 2012, offers a deeper dive into the UNESCO World Heritage site with exhibitions, audio guides, trail suggestions, and cliff-top walks that explore both the geological causes and the mythical legends of the remarkable basalt columns leading into the sea.