Ancient Ireland...and I mean, Ancient.

Our second day in Ireland was an exploration of ancient Ireland.  Based on our friend Kate's recommendation (and confirmed as an excellent choice by Rick Steve's Dublin podcast), we took Mary Gibbons Tour to Newgrange and Hill of Tara.  Mary Gibbons is so well known that Lonely Planet highly recommended her tours and even did a feature on her in their Ireland book.  I asked Todd if he wanted her to autograph her picture in our LP book, but he said no.

First stop was the Hill of Tara.  Tara is an ancient spiritual site and seat of power as it seems the place where many kings were crowned.  It's one of the highest places in Ireland (that's not a mountain), and on a clear day, you can see 22 of Ireland's 33 counties. While our day wasn't perfectly clear, it was clear enough to see a bunch of them.  As a result of this excellent physical location and visibility, it was difficult to attack Tara.  (Side note on how dumb I am: When we were at the top, I said to Todd, 'I don't understand why you couldn't' sneak up here.  I could totally hide behind these trees and make my way to the top without being seen."  Todd, ancient military strategist, said "Yes, and what about your army and all your horses?"  "Right," I said. "I guess that would be harder." Sigh.)

Todd standing next to the slightly phallic coronation stone

From Tara, we headed over to Newgrange, a completely intact passage tomb and ancient temple.  What's amazing about Newgrange is that it is 5,000 years old!  That predates the pyramids by 500 years, Stonehenge by 1000 years and is the oldest astronomical observatory in the world.  It is the oldest fully in tact structure in the world from the Stone Age.  And let me tell you, those Stone Age peeps were smart. 

Tomb entrance with roofbox and intricately carved center stone

On the Winter Solstice, for about 15 minutes, the sun shines through the roofbox and shines 19 meters up the passageway directly into the tomb.  While you can enter a lottery to be in the tomb on the winter solstice, the good people at Newgrange recreate the experience for those of us who visit during those other 525,585 minutes of the year. 

White Quartz & River Stones

The white stones, quartz, have been reconstructed along the outside but are original to Newgrange (ie from the Stone Age).  The stones that make up the outside and the inside were brought from quite a distance - some from 50K to the south and some from 80k to the north.  Once again, given that the Stone Age had no motorways, what an accomplishment! 

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the tomb, so I'll do my best to describe it and insert pictures posted on other Newgrange websites.  The 19m passageway to the tomb was narrow, less than a meter wide at the widest point and closer to a foot wide at the narrowest, making it almost necessary to go sideways.  The elevation of the passageway was 2m from the opening to the tomb.  The actual tomb area was maybe 3 meters wide and had 3 'rooms' at what would be the points of the cross (though obviously not Christian).  In each little room, there were ancient Celtic carvings on the stones and a large stone bowl where the bones of the dead were likely laid.

The inside of the tomb was bone dry which our guide reminded us was quite impressive for Ireland!  These Stone Age engineers continue to impress 5,000 years later. The tomb was built out of overlapping stones which got closer together as the structure got higher.  The top was sealed by a single stone. Before covering the structure with mud, river stones, dirt and more, they carved little gulleys into the rocks making up the primary structure so water would run off.  Genius.  The archeologists who excavated the site estimated that there is over 200,000 tons of materials above the tomb - which I must say is a little nerve-wracking to hear when standing inside.

As you can see from the pictures, the entire structure as seen from the outside is enormous.  It is surprising to see how small the actual passageway and tomb area are in actuality. There are 200+ of these passage tombs throughout Ireland.  Some, like these two small ones in the adjacent farmer's fields, remain untouched and protected by the government.  Others, like Knowth and Douth nearby Newgrange, are also being excavated.

A much smaller tomb in the neighboring field

Todd with one of the huge rocks purposefully placed near the tomb

Intricate carvings on the rocks surrounding the outer edge of the tomb

Taking the day to explore Tara and Newgrange and see a bit of the countryside was great.  It reminded us a lot of New Zealand, particularly walking through fields with sheep poo everywhere. 

Arriving back in Dublin, we walked around Merrion Square so I could take more pictures of the brightly colored doors.  I don't know why I can't stop taking pictures of these doors, but when I see a purple, yellow, or orange door, I can't help it!  Are there cities in the US that have doors like this?

A nap, a pub, some music, and a couple of pints of Guinness later, we were done for the day.  Thursday...renting a car and driving to Galway!