Dublin and Wicklow

Lansdowne Road,- like the old neighbourhood!! :)
Nothing compares to a good Irish breakfast of pancakes, blueberries and creme fraiche.




The River Liffey

 

 prestigious Trinity College that Queen Elizabeth I set up in Dublin in 1592 as part of the protestant reformation movement ( it didn't work! ) and The Library!!

 From the Book of Kells, beautiful,  exquisitely illuminated manuscripts of the gospels written between 6th -9th century AD in monasteries in Ireland and Scotland that have survived to this day and are preserved in the Trinity College Library

to the less sublime and yet sublime, the Guinness Brewery Storehouse, St. James Gate around the corner from Watling !  My daughter poured the perfect Guinness with certificate to prove.

 

 

View from the Gravity Room at top of Guinness Storehouse 360 ' views all the way to the harbour

County Meath with Michael Gibbons, Archaeologist

 

running up the hill of Tara

Home of  the great old chieftains who fought amongst themselves, betrayed, murdered and ruled until Patrick came.  The old Druid High Priest warned the chief that he must get rid of these newcomers (the monks) or else their old and traditional ways and gods would be defeated.  The chief didn't listen and Ireland was converted. The triple spiral of the old religion became the Trinity of the new. Many of the old celtic gods were transformed into or identified with the Christian Saints.
On the left of the photo is the lia fail or stone of destiny of Ireland where the High Kings were crowned.  To the right is a gravestone commemorating the rebellion of 1798.
Irish history is a long list of calamities and defeats at the hands of the English but the Irish rise above it and write gloriously of it. Most rebels got their wish to die for Ireland, a large number of them in front of English firing squads but it is a tribute to the Irish nature to never give up and as tragic as the history is to be able to make a good story of it.

The hill of hostages ( an ancient tomb) on Tara

triple spiral at door of Newgrange tomb
whose mysteries remain unsolved. three side chambers surround the central high domed ceiling of the tomb.  On one day of the year the winter solstice sun would slowly creep through the long entrance hallway and light up the interior which indicates it perhaps was also a ritual chamber  as with the Maes Howe tomb on the Orkneys.

 Newgrange

Wild Wicklow

Only in Ireland!!  Our fine driver, Steven, regaled us with tales and laughter and passed around shots of whiskey

 stepping in the Irish Sea

James Joyce wrote Ulysses here! A little tower house on the sea

 road to wicklow

(One of my favourite places)

Glendalough, Wicklow mountains

the remote monastery and chapel of St. Kevin at Glendalough from the 6th century

the celtic cross with the pagan symbol of the sun incorporated into the Christian cross

In County Kerry a pilrimage

http://youtu.be/Vaocm0jnfHM

and now we sadly had to bid  farewell to all for now and on to London and Paris for our last week of our journey

London