Our first stop was the city of Galway on the Irish coast. It was...quaint. Not a lot to do truth be told though we did go to a local pub and hear traditional Irish music, so that was nice.
The next day we jumped on a ferry...okay, that sounds wrong, let's try that again....we boarded a ferry (eh) and headed off to the Aran Islands. The ride itself was fun for me just because I love sea. It's one of the few places in the world I feel at peace.
King of the World...I never saw that movie, heard it was kinda overrated. Ah well.
We caught a bus tour that took us around Innis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. It is approximately eleven miles long and three miles across at its widest point. It's also one of the few remaining places where people speak Gaelic, which Adam pointed out later sounds an awful lot like German.
This is a ring fort, originally built by the ancient Celts who settled here thousands of years ago.
Just for you Anna....
Afterwards we went to the Aran Islands seal colony. If you're lucky (which sadly we weren't) you can see dozens of seals laying on the rocks at low tide. This wasn't the case the day we went but I did manage to see at least one seal bobbing his head in and out of the water.
Our last stop on the Aran Islands was Dan Agonhasa, the great cliffs and the site of another ancient Celtic fort. This was a unique experience for me. I hate heights but I love the sea, so the cliffs inspired in me an odd juxtaposition (yes, that is a real word, look it up) of fear and awe.
When we left the islands we caught a bus and headed for the town of Navan. Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either till I looked online to find some cool places that figure into Irish mythology I could visit, since it was of course independent travel. Navan itself is just a town, about an hour north of Dublin. However it is situated in some beautiful Irish country side, giving us the chance to see why Ireland is called the Emerald Isle.
The mythological site I wanted to see was located about twenty minutes from Navan. It is called Newgrange, a megalithic tomb, a thousand years older than Stonehenge and five hundred years older than the pyramids at Giza. According to legend, it is the tomb of the Dagda, king of the Irish gods (yeah, I know, who else but me would go on a four and a half hour bus ride to see the tomb of a dead god?).
This is the stone outside the entrance to the tomb itself, apparently the most photographed stone in Ireland. The circles carved into it are symbols that repeat all throughout Celtic iconography but to this day no one knows what they mean.
What's behind megalithic tomb number one...?
There was also a small stone circle outside the tomb.
Ever have an itch you just can't reach...?
Our last night in Ireland we stayed in Dublin. Everyone else thought it was neat; me, I thought it was just another city, big, bright, fast, not very relaxing. Although we did get a special treat. We visited the Arlington Hotel where we got to hear Irish music and Irish dancing.
Now THAT was cool.
Alright, that's all for now. Tomorrow we head to my favorite city in the world, London. See you next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment