香浓河对岸的景色，爱尔兰利默里克 A view across the River Shannon in Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland (© Piotr Machowczyk/Shutterstock)

香浓河对岸的景色，爱尔兰利默里克 A view across the River Shannon in Limerick, County Limerick, Ireland (© Piotr Machowczyk/Shutterstock)

A visit to Limerick on Limerick

Today is Limerick Day, and what better place to celebrate this unofficial holiday than in Limerick, Ireland. The connection between the historic city and the humorous, five-line verse is unclear. Several theories have been purported, none of them definitive. But the city of Limerick has embraced its namesake poetry style and in recent years the Limerick Writers' Centre has hosted an annual competition called Bring Your Limericks to Limerick.

We're looking across the River Shannon at the historic part of the city, a medieval section once walled off by the Vikings around 812 and known today as King's Island. That's King John's Castle on the left, built on the order of King John in 1200. Over on the right is St. Mary's Cathedral, which dates from 1168 and is the oldest building in Limerick still in use. History suggests the area was settled long before the Vikings conquered it and set about destroying Irish public records. The earliest map of Ireland, produced in 150 CE by historian and overall polymath Ptolemy, shows a place called 'Regia' at the same site as King's Island.

利默里克之旅

今天是利默里克日，还有什么比在爱尔兰利默里克更好的地方来庆祝这个非官方节日呢。这座历史名城与幽默的五行诗之间的联系尚不清楚。有几个理论被提出，没有一个是确定的。但利默里克市已经接受了同名的诗歌风格，近年来，利默里克作家中心举办了一个名为“把你的利默里克带到利默里克”的年度比赛。

我们在香农河对岸眺望这座城市的历史部分，这是一个中世纪的部分，812年左右曾被维京人围住，今天被称为国王岛。左边是约翰国王的城堡，1200年按照约翰国王的命令建造。右边是圣玛丽大教堂，建于1168年，是利默里克至今仍在使用的最古老的建筑。历史表明，早在维京人征服该地区并着手销毁爱尔兰公共记录之前，该地区就已定居。最早的爱尔兰地图是由历史学家兼托勒密全才于公元150年绘制的，图中显示了一个与国王岛位于同一地点的名为“里加”的地方。