Bee in my Bonnet

One of the charming things about Dublin are the various colorfully painted doors of the residential row homes.

This morning we boarded a small van along with eight other people and our tour guide, Hugh, for a tour of some of the ancient sites north of Dublin. Newgrange, Monasterboice, castle Trim, and the Hill of Tara.

Newgrange’s centerpiece is a huge cairn type tomb, older than the pyramids of Giza. We were fortunate to get tickets to go inside. It is not allowed to take photos inside the structure. If you want to know more Wikipedia has a descriptive article. Click Here.

There are many other similar structures scattered around the area. Only this one has been restored and excavated. This one is one of the largest. You could see other cairns in farmers fields with sheep roaming around it or fields of forage planted around.

We saw many sheep, not too many cows. The land is so lush and green.

Our next stop was Monasterboice. Originally the site of a monastery dating back to 512 AD. The site has an old conical tower and three High Crosses dating back to the 10th century. This site has the tallest and most well known High Crosses in Ireland. The crosses depict various scenes of bible stories. When they were erected they were painted in bright dramatic colors.

There is the ruins of an old church and a cemetery. The cemetery has old burials as well as ones recently placed.

The tower is of interest because it is one of the many dotted around the Irish country side. Their use is debatable but all have an entrance door that was placed high above the ground level that at one twine was only accessible with a ladder.

Heading out for our next site we stopped in the little village of Slane for lunch. We had delicious sandwiches homemade with local grain rustic bread. Delicious. A musician entertained us with some Irish music on his guitar and harmonica.

Next stop Trim Castle, the largest Norman castle in Ireland from the 12th century. It is in remarkable condition all though mostly ruins. The keep and guard gates and curtain walls are in remarkable condition. The place is quite large.

Some of the movie, Braveheart, with Mel Gibson, was filmed here.

The town of trim is quite charming.

We only had 50 minutes to explore. Wish we had more time so we could have taken a tour of the keep.

The castle sits aside the river Boyne which used to be accessible from the sea.

On our travel up to Trim we crossed the area of the Battle of the Boyne. A very important battle that left a lasting mark on Irish history. Click Here for more info.

Onto one of the most revered sites in Ireland, the Hill of Tara. It’s an ancient landscape with passage tombs from 4th century BC, myth, magic, and history both modern and ancient.

Tomb of the Hostages.

The Lia Fàil standing stone. Associated with the inauguration of the ancient kings of Ireland. It is said the next king of Ireland will be manifest when he touches the stone. We touched the stone. Nothing remarkable happened.

Cute little ice cream truck in parking lot. They do not play the American ice cream truck music. Heehee. Couldn’t resist. Cones all around.

Oh, guess who we found? St. Patrick, himself. Well, a statue of him. If you look really close you’ll see a shamrock in his outstretched right hand.