GET A LUNGFUL吸一口新鮮空氣

OUR COVER SHOWS

the dolomite cliffs of Mizen Head, a dramatically scenic place in the extreme southwest of Ireland, made even more dramatic by the brush of artist Nicholas Hely Hutchinson. Above is his view of Keel on the island of Achill. Neither are very busy places.

They capture many of the reasons for venturing along the 2,500-kilometre Irish coastal road known as the Wild Atlantic Way: the ever- changing light, the green of the land – like no green you’ll encounter anywhere else – and the vertiginous feeling you get from being on the very edge of Europe. One thing no painter can capture is the quality of the air: the west coast has some of the purest particles of the stuff in the northern hemisphere. If you’re heading there from a southern Asian summer, you’ll drink it in, along with pints of a rather denser substance called Guinness.

It becomes easier to head to places like Mizen Head this month as Cathay Pacific launches its new route to Dublin. It’s one more example of opening up in a country that has made something of a speciality of opening up in the past three or four decades. Take the election of Ireland’s leader, or Taoiseach, a year ago. It wasn’t the fact that Leo Varadkar is the gay son of an immigrant family that caused a stir: more the fact it didn’t cause a stir.

Openness is very much the hallmark of modern Ireland. It’s regularly voted the friendliest place to visit in the world. The quality of the welcome is also hard to capture in 2D. Take a trip around sublime Ireland on page 32.

Mark Jones Editorial director

本期封面是Mizen Head岬角的白雲岩懸崖，這個地方位於愛爾蘭西南端，風景壯麗迷人，在插畫家Nicholas Hely Hutchinson的描繪下，更顯氣勢磅礡。上圖是他眼中的阿奇爾島Keel村莊的風景，兩地看來都是人煙稀少。

這些美不勝收的風景，是遊客喜歡沿著2,500公里長的海岸公路，又名為野性大西洋之路暢遊愛爾蘭的其中一個原因。途中 可以看到不斷變化的光線、一片蒼翠的大地（那種綠色是別處看不到的），以及置身歐洲最邊陲之地時目眩神迷的感覺，那分吸引力是無可比擬的。然而，無論畫家的技巧如何高明，亦無法捕捉空氣中那種清新宜人的質感。愛爾蘭西岸擁有北半球最純淨的空氣，如果在夏季從南亞前來這裡，你會恨不得將清新的空氣吞下肚裡。這裡的另一款名產同樣會令你想盡情鯨吞，那就是味道濃郁的健力士啤酒。

國泰航空本月推出飛往都柏林的新航線，前往Mizen Head岬角更為便利。過去30多40年來愛爾蘭不斷努力開放，開放甚至成了這個國家的特色。就以一年前愛爾蘭的總理選舉為例，引人注目的並非Leo Varadkar出身移民家庭，或他是同性戀者，而是根本沒人介懷他的身份與背景，令他順利當選。

開放的態度是現代愛爾蘭為人稱道的特質，因此經常獲選為全球最友善的旅遊地點。這種熱情好客的風氣亦很難用畫筆呈現，不如翻到32頁，跟我們一起去領略愛爾蘭的風土人情。

Mark Jones

編輯總監