Glendalogh and Horse and Jockey 4

Our day started with packing and a mild clean of the apartment in Dublin.  Heading out of Dublin was a chore, with all the rush hour traffic and negotiating of cyclists.  They were everywhere!  We headed to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains.

Glendalough is a valley with two lakes that is the home of a monastic site with a giant round tower and chapel ruins.  Saint Kevin was here in the 6th century, where he lived in seclusion in the side of the mountain.  From the 11th century and on, it has been a religious pilgrimage for many.  The graveyard is spectacular, with tombstones tilted and grown over with lichens.  We did a walk around the lower lake on a boardwalk and then around through the forest.  The day was cloudy and breezy with an ever ominous fog about.

The tombstones

This archway is still in great shaper from the 1100's.  Wowza!

The hiking trail took us up the steep steps to St. Kevin's site.  The cell area, I later found out, was actually a Druid site.

Mossy little trees

We ran across a few beautiful streams as well.

The entire site is walled in by steep mountains.  We could only see them when the clouds would clear.

Giant old trees

Andrew snapped this beauty of the chapel and round tower.

The pass through the Wicklow Mountains was impressive.  While at Newgrange, the guide said that the rocks came from this area many miles away.  I can only imagine what it would be like lugging those giant stones back in the day without the aide of the wheel.  Whew!

We drove some more and ended up at the Horse and Jockey Hotel.  Our rooms were super nice with a cozy little pub that is 200+ years old.  That evening we even saw a horse and jockey out for a ride behind Horse and Jockey Hotel in the village of Horse and Jockey.

Newgrange 3

Our mission today was to head out to the ancient Newgrange site. Andrew knew about it from the TV show, Ancient Aliens.  This place is roughly 5,200 years old!  That meant: WE HAD TO GO.  The drive from Dublin was about 45 minutes and took us through some beautiful countryside.

Once we were there, we parked, got coffee, and waited for the next bus.  We were going to purchase tickets in advance, but could not because the Visitor Center is under renovation.  Instead, we got free admission.  Bonus!

The surrounding land is ornamented with burial mounds.  The second biggest is the Newgrange mound.  We were not allowed to take photos inside to show the wonders of the passage tomb.  It's a room made of stacked rocks with a cross design that is aligned to the winter solstice.  This is when the sun shines directly through a roof box and casts a beam of light up the passage all the way to the back of the room.  There are many theories as to what the people who built the room were trying to accomplish, but we are pretty sure it must have something to do with aliens!  After all, ancient astronaut theorists say "Yes!"  The guide did a simulation of what the light looks like on the morning of the solstice.  Pretty cool. You can enter a lottery to be drawn for a prized ticket to enter on the 3 days of the solstice.

After Newgrange, we also toured the Knowth site.  Knowth is the largest passage tomb of the site.  The largest amount of megalithic art in Europe is on the stones of Knowth.  We could not go very far into the tomb because it is unstable and rocks have begun to collapse, making very narrow passages.

Our first glimpse of Newgrange

The entrance that faces directly towards the winter solstice sunrise

No real rain and beautiful clouds

Knowth tunnel system.  We couldn't go in since the walls are crumbling and get VERY tight.

Andrew snapped this pic of the front with no tourists.  

We stopped for lunch at the Snailbox, an interesting roadside Inn with a restaurant.  We talked with the owner guy and he expressed his LOVE for Las Vegas.  He said his son was going there in the future and couldn't wait. 

Just a small room in the Snailbox restaurant.  It was full of hats in every room and made for a super colorful ceiling.  The food was surprisingly good, as we randomly chose this place, but the meals were something we kept raving about.  Yum.  Yum.

Cruising back to Dublin.

Dinner was back in town at Lee's Charming Noodles.  It's a Chinese restaurant that is tied in with Clark, the Air BnB house owner.  It was great and a close walk to the apartment. We watched some Irish music videos on Youtube and called it a night.  Tomorrow, we will head out to Glendalough in the Wicklow Mountains.