Today we came full circle (around the island of Ireland) returning back to Dublin where we had begun our journey 12 days ago. Our last full day in Ireland was another one full of activities.

Belfast Botanic Gardens

Diana didn’t pick us up until 10:00 am today, so we had time to walk down to the Belfast Botanic Gardens, which were very near our hotel. We were too early to see the greenhouses or the museum (both open at 10:00) , which are all free to the public. We thoroughly enjoyed viewing the gardens on this sunny morning. We knew the rain was coming, but it was nice to enjoy the sun for a bit. This is not a complaint about the rain – the rain, along with the mild winters, provides a climate where some really cool plants can flourish.

Monasterboice

The first stop Diana took us to today was Monasterboice, a quintessential Irish monastery (in ruins) with high crosses and a partially standing round tower. These towers are unique to Ireland, and though the high crosses can also be seen in the UK, they are most numerous in Ireland. We felt this was an important stop to make.

Round towers were built to serve as watch towers, bellfries, and as protection for church valuables and members of the community when the Vikings came raiding. The doors are purposely 15-20 feet above ground so the ladder could be pulled up to make the building secure. The insides would be divided into several stories and a conical cap would top it off.

The three high crosses here all depict scenes from the Bible to help reinforce biblical stories for a population that was mostly illiterate at the time. These sandstone crosses were meant to be educational and did not mark graves.

This monastery was founded by St. Buite, who died in 521. There is a list of abbots dating from 759–1122. The round tower was built in 968 and damaged by fire in 1098. When a new abbey was built nearby in 1142, this one fell into decay, except for a short time when it was used as a church in the 13th century. These records of history are amazing in that they survive for us to see and learn from centuries later.

Battle of the Boyne Site

Obviously named for a historic battle, the Battle of the Boyne Site was our next stop. This park is now a lovely place for having picnics and walking through gardens. The 1690 battle here was the deciding factor that put King William III (William of Orange) on the British throne over King James II. This is the same King James II who attempted to take the city of Derry as described on our Derry walking tour. He was attempting to regain his throne that he had lost to his daughter Mary and her husband William. (The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, was founded by a royal charter from this couple.) William was not only James’ son-in-law, but also his nephew, and he was Dutch. He was a better military leader than James II and this victory ushered in a time of Protestant dominance in Ireland.

Bru na Boinne

We started in the large visitor centre at Bru na Boinne with an interactive exhibition, including a very dark model of a passage tomb, which is the reason this UNESCO World Heritage Site exists. There are three very large passage tombs here, two of which we get to see today. The Newgrange tomb has a roof-box that is aligned with the winter solstice, and these all predate Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids.

Diana stopped us at a map outside the complex to give us some orientation information. After wandering through the exhibit in the visitors center, we walked across a pedestrian bridge over the River Boyne to get to the bus which would take us to Knowth, the first site for today’s visit here.

Knowth

Knowth is the largest of the three passage tombs here. It has two long passages that are lined up, back to back, down the center of the large circular mound of dirt, rock, and turf that make up the 312-foot-wide tomb. One passage lines up with the vernal equinox, and the other with the autumnal equinox. There are several smaller “satellite” tombs that surround the large central one.

Archaeologists have straightened the megalithic stones, called kerbstones, that sit on the ground and form a ring surrounding the tomb. These have artwork carved into them. There is a pile of quartz and granite stones outside the opening. They also added a concrete “topper” ledge to the kerbstones that would not have existed originally. This has reinforced the tomb so that visitors may safely walk up and across the top, as the ancients who settled the Boyne Valley would have done.

When you realize where these stones all came from and how heavy they are, these burial mounds become very impressive. The kerbstones are up to 5 tons each and were quarried 9 miles away. They probably used a log-rolling method to move them, which would have taken 80 people around three weeks for each stone. The smaller quartz and granite stones littered on the ground came from the Wicklow Mountains (50 miles south, past Dublin) and the Cooley Mountains (30 miles north). These required a dangerous trip by foot and canoe because horses weren’t here yet and the land was heavily forested. They were committed to building these monuments.

Newgrange

The shuttle bus then took us to Newgrange, where we were able to go inside the chamber but couldn’t take any pictures. This site’s excavation and restoration was led by a different professor than the one at Knowth, which gives Newgrange a different look. Our group of 29 visitors was divided into two smaller ones. We went into the tomb through a very tight, narrow passage, and our guide discussed the large stone basins that held human remains and artifacts. He also mentioned having to win the lottery to be here at the Winter Solstice to see the sunlight coming through the roof box at sunrise. He said you have to win it twice—once to get a ticket, and again to get a day without clouds blocking the sunrise.

When the other group was inside, Tony W and I asked the remaining guide about what we were seeing with the quartz and granite stones. These stones were left on the ground at Knowth but were rebuilt into a wall here at Newgrange. Our guide said it was a story of two different archaeology professors leading two different teams with different interpretations of what was found. One professor saw the stones scattered around Knowth and thought a wall of them would have been difficult to build in Neolithic times without some kind of cement, so he chose to leave them in place. The other professor saw the stones in a slumped pile and interpreted that as a collapsed wall, so he chose to rebuild it with concrete hidden behind it. Both sites have been heavily “restored” on the outside, and there is disagreement on what might have been done originally. The entrance to Newgrange was discovered in 1699 when stones were being moved. The passages in Knowth were not found until 1967, after five years of excavation work.

Clontarf Castle

Is there a female on the planet that would pass up a chance to spend a night in a castle? Nancy and I decided that this should be our final hotel and the guys didn’t get a vote. The current castle replaced the old 1172 castle in 1837 and it was refurbished into this modern hotel in 1998. It felt like a castle, but a modern version of one, and the room was very nice, but seemed very much like a hotel room. Which I suppose is much more comfortable than an actual castle bedroom would be. No turret, but then no dirty, cold floors with rodents for company and lack of indoor plumbing, either. It was fun to walk around and explore in the Clontarf Castle Hotel on our final night in Ireland.

Our final supper in Ireland was wonderful and we didn’t have to go far. The Knight’s Bar is on the first floor of the hotel and had delicious vegetarian options. Off to bed I go with my prince for sweet dreams in the castle.