Global General

Queen to visit Cashel, Cork to end Irish trip

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-20 19:51

Britain's Queen Elizabeth (L) and Prince Philip (2nd L) arrive for their visit at St Patrick's Rock in Cashel, Ireland May 20, 2011.

DUBLIN - Queen Elizabeth II plans to visit the medieval Rock of Cashel, an old English Market in Cork and a high-tech research facility Friday before returning to England at the conclusion of her four-day tour.

The ambitious trip has been hailed by many as consolidating a new era of cooperation between England and Ireland, two neighbors that have often been adversaries.

The queen has been praised in Irish newspapers and television commentary for her sensitive approach to the difficult history between the two neighbors.

Her trip has been marred, however, by a massive security presence to protect her from dissident attacks and by the discovery Tuesday of a bomb hidden on a bus. It was found and neutralized before it exploded.

The queen and her husband Prince Philip have scheduled some sightseeing, although their plans to travel by helicopter may be jeopardized by rain and winds early Friday.

Their first stop is the Rock of Cashel, a group of medieval buildings on a limestone outcropping in southwest Ireland.

In Cork she will visit the English Market, which has had stalls selling meat, seafood, local cheese and other goods since the late 18th Century.

From there she plans to visit the Tyndall National Institute, a high-tech institution created in 2004. It is a research hub where the queen and Philip will be briefed on current projects.

They will also meet with local representatives, including the Benhaffaf twins, who were conjoined at birth and were separated by an Irish surgeon, Dr. Edward Kiely, at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The queen plans to spend the weekend in England before receive President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle at Buckingham Palace next week.