Ireland '23 - Day 14 - Boyne Valley - Tara & Nowth/Newgrange

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Bru na Boine

On Thursday after breakfast, four of us checked out of Camden Court & took a cab to Dublin airport, where we crammed our stuff into a modest-sized rental car, such that driver Roger had no rear view, other than side mirrors. 

Once we escaped the airport complex, we drove into the town of Swords, for coffee & to get our bearings. The coffee was great & Mary synched her phone w/the car, which worked well for the rest of our 3 day driving trip. 

I enjoyed being co-pilot to Roger on the drive there, mostly out in the country. The Hill of Tara is historical & mysterious, the initial mystery being the complete lack of signage, or references to Tara, on the entire drive, like it doesn't exist.         

The entrance to Tara is through an old churchyard. 

	entrance		fall light
		Tara mounds in the distance		from 1822

The Hill of Tara is an ancient ceremonial and burial site for the Kings of early Ireland, a warring bunch. 

Aerial photography and GPR (ground penetrating radar) have identified 60 burial mounds here, the most important being The Mound of the Hostages, which according to archeologists, contains the cremated remains of generations of high-status individuals, from the Neolithic era.  

Centuries later, in the 800s, this was an important Celtic stronghold, not unlike the Rock of Cashel. Game of Thrones, anyone ? ....this is where it really happened, minus TV fantasy elements. 

Tara is an impressive hill, with 360 degree views for miles. On a clear day the North Sea can be seen, but today was hazy, as the 4th photo shows.  

	mound of the hostages				mounded earth
		view to the north		church ruin, a mile to the south
	Stone of Destiny		Mary & Doris		exiting the place

When we arrived at the modern & impressive Nowth/Newgrange visitor center, we were early & enjoyed soup or a scone (or both) at the amazing cafe, plus coffee or tea. 

We were on time for the guided tour with a shuttle taking about 15 tourists to each site. 

	Mary & Roger at the visitor center		River Boyne		looking downstream, see note
		a wool cap is comfortable in this weather		Neolithic burial mounds at Nowth		construction details
	stairway to the top of Nowth		Newgrange is a  5,000 year old passage tomb		the mound front wall
		spiral patterns		Neolithic construction w/ some restoration
	entrance to passage tomb		group photo

note - a guy who worked at the Newgrange site said to me (on the bridge) that a lot of rain in the last two weeks brought the river up & out of its banks, filling floodplain areas, as the photo shows. 

It reminded me of a pothole on highway 72, near Killorglin, eight days ago, due to the same storms.

Newgrange -The docent took us to the center of the Newgrange Monument, inside a 100 ft. long passage, and I had to duck repeatedly to avoid hitting my head on huge stone slabs. It was a narrow and the size of the boulders and exquisite placement all around us was beyond belief. 

Once 15 of us were in the small central chamber, the Docent turned all lights off for a few minutes, and then the group saw a representation of how the first rays of the rising sun might look, a finger of intense light, illuminating the center of the chamber, on the winter solstice day (Dec. 21) sunrise, for only a few minutes, once a year.   

Later we drove NE for an hour to the tiny town of Carlingford, in a mountainous coastal setting. We checked into the comfortable Mourneview B&B, and once freshened up, drove into town for dinner at the Carlingford Arms. It was a ten minute drive.

The streets are cobbled and no traffic is allowed in the small town. Part of the original City Wall still stands and we walked under a well-preserved archway.  

A charming woman from Ghana in colorful dress served us and you could see she was well-liked, and drinks & food were flowing. An old Irishman at the counter, with a money box, was using a pencil stub to add up how much patrons owed & they expected cash. It was a vintage modern Ireland....   

Across the cobblestone street (no cars are allowed in town) was a Pub with live music. The small-town-ness was refreshing; people wanted songs to sing or clap along with. But it was American rock and not Irish music.

We were up late that night, like 11 pm. 

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Postscript - back to antiquity & monuments -

Hill of Tara - there's no visitor center (thus no kitchen magnets or t-shirts), no historical displays, and no handouts, not a shred of information, so you're on your own here.....go forth & wander around, like I did. 

It is an intriguing site; the view is vast & inspires wonder....you can let your mind wander, imagining the past. Archeologists say this is one of the most important ancient sites in Ireland.  (All Tara info is from Wikipedia.)

Newgrange - To think that a large group of organized people who lived 5,000 years ago constructed this immense burial monument and oriented its one & only entrance to align perfectly with a single day's sunrise, in the solar year, the main effect lasting only a few moments, is astounding. 

Yet what a moment it is ! ....the start of a new year and a profound symbol of rebirth, brought about the cosmos, with amazing precision ! 

The Neolithic people were genetically identical to us moderns in every way, but had no written language. They were the first humans to collectively grow crops & raise animal herds, and the winter solstice must have provided meaningful assurance that winter will indeed end, and planting season will indeed come, no matter how bad the present winter may be !

As for the spiritual aspects, the number of Neolithic burial mounds in the UK and Ireland, including Orkney and the Shetlands, as well as parts of France and Norway is huge......all of them having an entrance that faces the winter (or summer) solstice sunrise (or sunset). 

Those of us in the modern world have work to imagine what it was like essentially living outdoors most of the year, completely exposed and dependent on weather and especially the success of your crops, only having a few months to grow an entire year's food supply !  

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