The British Isles are a group of islands - two large islands and many small ones. England, Scotland and Wales form Great Britain or just Britain. Together with Northern Ireland they form the United Kingdom. English is the language of the country and people all over the world speak English.
ENGLAND
Its capital, London, is in the south-eastern part of the islands. There are many interesting places for tourist in this wonderful city. Some of them are: the City (the heart of business and trade), the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben (the famous clock tower), Buckingham Palace (the Royal residence), St. Paul`s Cathedral, the green parks, Hyde Park, Green Park, Regent`s Park, the new Barbican Centre (a seat of culture) and many, many others.
Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are big industrial towns. Popular sports are cricket, football, golf and tennis. Many of the British are more interested in sport than in anything else. They respect their best footballers and cricketers. They believe that sport develops character and team spirit.
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. The city is on hills and nearby on Castle Rock is the beautiful Edinburgh Castle. Many holiday visitors go to Scotland to see the high mountains, the deep valleys, the clean rivers and the cold lakes (called `lochs`). The Highlights are the home to many rare birds and animals, such as the eagle and the wildcat. The national musical instruments is the bagpipe and every town has its bagpipe band. They have their own kind of clothes – the colourful Scottish tartans. They like fishing in the fast rivers and skiing on the snow-covered mountains. Shooting is still a very popular sport there.
WALES
It is a wonderful place for a visit. Much of Wales is wild, beautiful and mountainous country. You can go to pubs and listen to families singing in Gaelic. People who like sport can go skiing in the mountains or swimming in the rivers. There are many sights to see, like the Cliffs of Moher in Galway. There are many stone castles to visit too. After you see all these things you can go to a tea house and eat scones with jam and cream and drink hot tea. It is a delicious way to end a day.
