Nov 1, 2012 - Sue's first birthday in Ireland

My birthday morning was a lovely sunny one and while Jimmy and family went off to Dublin to visit friends they loaned us a car and we went off to see nearby Kells and the old St Columba’s church, round tower and cemetery there. The Book of Kells may have been either started in Iona and finished in Kells or written entirely in Kells by successive generations of monks. As the weather turned wet and windy, we headed for Navan and found a coffee bar for a bite to eat. We arrived back in Slane just on dark and after the children were fed and put...

Oct 31, 2012 - Around Co. Meath

Today we left Philly and Laoise to have a quiet mum and bub time, and Jimmy took us sightseeing around Co. Meath. We went first into the town of Drogheda, where we walked to St Peter’s Church, most famous for housing the National Shrine to St. Oliver Plunkett, the last Roman Catholic martyr hung, drawn and quartered for his faith at Tyburn in 1681. The shrine is most elaborate and contains the preserved head of the saint. It is also a beautiful old church with a magnificent organ and many lovely stained glass windows. We walked back to St...

Oct 29, 2012 - Slane and Newgrange

During Saturday night we changed from daylight saving so we gained an extra hour this morning. It was drizzling when we set off intending to travel the coast road around the Mourne mountains, but we took a wrong turn and ended up going west instead of south and ended up travelling the M1 down to Slane, and consequently arrived much earlier than we intended. We parked in Slane and waited in a local pub until Jimmy arrived to lead us to his house some way out in the country. Jimmy and Philly are Irish friends we met in New Zealand when they...

Jul 4, 2012 - Trim and home

Monday was our last day. Tuesday we headed home. We were determined to get our “last day satisfaction.” We left Northern Ireland, but didn’t leave the rain behind. I remarked that for all of the rain we’d had, we hadn’t seen a single rainbow. After 3½ hours of driving, one of our pots of gold at the end of the day was a visit to Newgrange, one of several ancient burial mounds in County Meath, in the countryside outside of Dublin. These 5,000-year-old passage tombs predate the pyramids in Egypt. The entrance to Newgrange was aligned to...

May 21, 2012 - The Megalithic Passage Tomb at Newgrange

Our trip started off with a drive by tour of Bram Stoker's home just outside of Dublin. I was very excited to get to see where he lived given my huge vampire obsession! We continued to Howth, which looks so different on a bright sunny day! You can see a lot of the pictures are a repeat from my previous trip out there but I just couldn't help it. The sun really makes a difference to these small villages and towns. We walked around the pier and discovered a couple having picnic in the car park. I was pretty surprised since there was so much...

Aug 29, 2011 - Bru Na Boine, Ireland

The next leg of our journey was to drive from Belfast to Dublin, where we would return our rental car and head home to the USA. Along the way, we visited Brú na Bóinne - the largest and one of the most important prehistoric megalithic sites in Europe. It is a complex of Neolithic chamber tombs, standing stones, henges and other prehistoric enclosures, dating back to the Stone Age. The area consists of many different sites, with the three principal passage tombs being Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. We started our visit at the Bru Na Boine...

Aug 11, 2011 - A Neolithic day

The fourth day was sent in the neolithic. Visited a center where there were several tomb complexes- Knowth and NewGrange - both built about 3000 BC. All had been restored to their original appearance. In NewGrange you could go in to the center of the complex and there was a demonstration of how on the winter solstice the sun would appear in the chamber. I entered a lottery as well - they let 20 people into the tomb on the five days around the solstice to witness the sun's appearance - that is, of course, if it's not cloudy... which it will...

Aug 10, 2011 - Countryside

On the third day some time in Kilkenny Castle and spent some more time in the town just wandering around, then headed out to Navan. We traveled some beautiful green countryside and, of course, got lost. Could not find the B&B again, so stopped in a pub and asked direction - the place was across the street... Later ate at the same pub - a small place in the countryside - and had a gourmet meal - with all the presentation of a fancy restaurant. Quite astounding. Discovered that an Irish salad includes a big glob of slaw and very few leafy...

May 11, 2011 - Ireland's Stonehenge, Newgrange

We’ve talked many times about going to Newgrange; but, since it’s on the north side of Dublin, an overnight stay is almost required. We hate to spend too much time away from Mom but we decided to do the trip this time. The weather hasn’t been great so we’ve spent a fair amount of time at home. The improved roads in Ireland make the trip fairly painless. The super slab is called the dual carriage-way….meaning lanes of traffic going both directions and sometimes more than 2 lanes each way. We made terrific time and Esther whipped us around...

Nov 6, 2010 - Dublin & Trim

My last full day in Ireland - I got to ride a double decker bus! Probably should have taken pictures of that but I wasn't thinking about it. I was just thinking about riding a double decker bus... Went to Trim which is where the castle that they filmed Braveheart in is located. I've only watched that movie once and while it was good I will never watch it again - way too tragic. Anyway, its a cute little town that is dominated on one side by the ruins of the castle and on the other by the cathedral. I actually went on the tour - mostly...

Sep 21, 2010 - Monasterboice

@@@@@@@ Background This small sites is one of the most famous religious sites in the country, it was founded by an obscure disciple of St. Patrick. The ruins of the monastery are enclosed within the walls of a cemetery and very much mixed with the modern graves of the residents of the surrounding villages. The site includes a roofless round tower and two small churches but the treasures are really the 10th century High Crosses, the finest in all Ireland. High Crosses are found in Celtic Britain and Ireland, but the distinctive ringed...

Sep 21, 2010 - Mellifont Abbey

@@@@@@@ Background The first Cistercian monastery to have been built in Ireland was situated on the banks of the River Mattock, 10km west of Drogheda. The order of St. Malachy, greatly influenced by St. Bernard based in Clairvaux, France, founded Mellifont Abbey in AD 1142. The Cistercians were brought to Ireland because of their rigorous monastic style, it was felt that other orders were more than a little ‘soft’. The new monastery became a model for others built around Ireland and maintained supremacy over them for the next 400 years....