Hi all! Last week I wasn’t feeling too great, but I still managed to go out to visit Howth on the bus. We had a nice two hour walk on the Cliff Path loop, down to the fishing village of Howth, and then had lunch before heading back to Dublin on the train. I would have wandered around a bit more if I had not felt a bit sick.
I managed to get some beautiful shots of the scenery on the Cliff Path.
The area reminded me a little bit of walking the dunes around Lake Michigan, only the Howth area is a lot rockier. Rain rolled in on the winds on and off, but the same wind blew the clouds out onto the ocean later. As such, some of the pictures are grayer than others.
This weekend I signed up for a tour called 1916 Rise of the Rebels. For those of you unfamiliar, and who may not have read a previous post, Ireland was previously under the dominion of England, and many fought tirelessly for their freedoms. The 1916 Rising on Easter Monday of 1916 is being celebrated this year as it is the 100th year since the uprising. Many museum exhibits and tours are devoted this year to the 1916 Rising, and this year only at 12 PM every day the Irish flag is ceremonially raised near the General Post Office. I’m really thankful I came this particular year to Ireland, as I get to witness the retelling of many stories.
Speaking of stories, the 1916 Rise of the Rebels tour is based primarily on accounts of those who were there at the Rising, or who were directly a part of it. The tour included poetry, stories and a walk down the back streets where the rebels holding the GPO escaped from the burning, collapsing building. For those of you wondering, the facade of the original building still remains today and you can see bullet holes from rifles, machine guns and damage from shrapnel and shelling on the pillars.
History might not be my major but I still find it a fascinating subject, that ties in well with sociology. There are always remnants of the past somewhere, especially in our environments, in our actions, and even our personalities.
If you get a chance to visit Ireland, and you enjoy history as a subject, perhaps you should give the 1916 Rise of the Rebels tour a try. I do not know how long the tour has been going, or if it is only for this year, but given the fact that some local children near Richmond Barracks seem to know part of the tour by heart, I would say it has been around for a while (those children, by the way, made my day).
Next weekend, we will take a day-long trip to Kilkenny. I will need to be prepared for the trip as I have been experiencing some issues with hypoglycemia. I have not found any places to buy something like Clif bars (recommended to me by an individual who lives with hypoglycemia) yet, but I’m sure I’ll find something.
In the meantime, I’m still looking for fairy things. The only thing I’ve found thus far, other than the ringfort remnants at the Hill of Tara, are Fairy brand soaps…
Another week has passed! And I’ve a lot of new information to share! This week started off with a trip to a new dining location on Capel Street, the inconspicuous but worthwhile Brother Hubbard.
Narwhal joined me for hot chocolate, granola, orange juice and a scroll on Monday at Brother Hubbard!
If I had not been looking for the restaurant I might not have found it. After all, I walked past it once. I felt like it was the room of requirement from Harry Potter, a sort of seek and ye shall find thing. And boy did I find a delicious breakfast.
The week passed by quickly enough, with a lot of trips to the post office, stuffing envelopes, researching and updating the donor database, and taking inventory of item stock. I also spent time with people at the mindfulness group again.
Originally, I was planning to meet my relative for lunch on Friday, but those plans fell through due to some nightmarish debacle on the part of Delta that ultimately caused multiple delays and a cancellation of the original flight. Then, the next flight was delayed several times before she arrived. Luckily, we were still able to go on our scheduled day tour on Saturday, though we were not able to visit all the places we had planned to go.
Trim Castle, County Meath
Our first stop was Trim Castle, on the Boyne River, of which I took a picture to use as the featured image. Of all the things I remember, it’s a story our guide told about the moat: it’s called the Leper River. People who attacked the castle were afraid to wade into it because they were afraid to become lepers…as a rumor was spread that that would happen to you if you fell in.
Unfortunately we did not have time to actually go inside the ruins of the castle. In the past people have chipped away at the ruins to reuse the stone for building and such, which happens all the time. We did, however, walk around the outside and see a few things, such as a refurbished cannon used in the Crimean War, and a house that was built out of the ruins of a nearby tower. Apparently scenes from Braveheart were also filmed there.
A picture of the inside of Bective Abbey.
Next, we visited Bective Abbey, which is a mishmosh of buildings built at different times onto an original Cistercian Abbey. Some of the original building has sadly, been completely lost, but they do have an idea of its first placement and shape (in the shape of a cross). A scene or two from Braveheart were also filmed in Bective Abbey. There was also a beautiful 400 year old tree there (which I unfortunately do not have a picture of!).
Hill of Tara, County Meath
We then visited the Hill of Tara. The rain and clouds were rolling in so the pictures began to get a bit dark, so I apologize for the quality. The ring forts on the Hill of Tara have historical and mythical significance to Ireland, once being the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. Kings were inaugurated in a rather interesting ceremony, in which the potential new king would march naked up the Hill of Tara to the rather phallic shaped fertility stone (the original of which is no longer present on the hill, or perhaps no longer in existence). He would place his foot on the stone. If the stone shrieked, he would become the new HIgh King of Ireland. If not…well, apparently he would die.
The current fertility stone (or the Stone of Destiny) at the Hill of Tara.
Ring forts, as I mentioned in a previous post, have in the past also been suspected to be the homes of fairies and therefore should not be trod upon by ordinary individuals. These particular ring forts at the Hill of Tara have not been excavated, though there is an area that was torn up by Israelites looking for the Ark of the Covenant.
We then took a stop at a local restaurant where we had a lovely meal with our day guide and I picked up a souvenir for a friend before we took a forty minute ride down to Monasterboice, the place where the so-called “Celtic Cross” designs on jewelry and other trinkets originate from.
Monasterboice was a monastery in County Louth, which is now ruins and a graveyard. Here can be seen some recent graves, as well as old ones, the tower where the monks kept their scriptures, and two or three rather lovely crosses that some would call a “Celtic Cross.” However, these crosses are more a mix of Christian and Pagan symbols; on the backside of the image on the left are images from the Old Testament, and on the front, visible, are images from the New (you may be able to see the crucifixion of Jesus in the center of the cross). The cross intersecting the circle represents a Christian “takeover” of old Pagan traditions (such as Christmas), not eliminating them entirely but making them “Christian.” The circle is a representation of the Pagan sun god. On the sides can be seen Celtic knots and other familiar symbols.
There is also another, similar cross in Monasterboice that is falling into disrepair due to abuse from tourists touching the sandstone and from migrants from Ireland who used to take chips of the cross with them on their journeys. The two more detailed “Celtic Crosses,” such as the one above, are entirely unprotected. The only protected structure in the area is the oldest cross, which is relatively plain in comparison and is surrounded by metal bars and a gate.
Our final destination on Saturday was Newgrange, a UNESCO world heritage site.
The patterned stone that once covered the entrance to Newgrange
Our day guide was not allowed to go with us, but we were brought on a tour into the tomb itself, which was, admittedly, very tiny on the inside, despite looking large on the outside. I had to move sideways to fit into the area and duck in many places. On the inside, the tour guide did a demonstration of what the tomb would look like on the day of the winter solstice, when the light from the sun is captured just right by an open area above the tomb’s entrance, shining a slat of light onto the back wall. No one is really sure about the significance of this, but it was still very cool! You come out with more questions than answers…like, why go through all the effort to make sure you could capture the sun at just the right angle? What was the importance of the solstice?
Afterwards, we went back to Dublin, picked up a few of my things, and had dinner. We dropped off pretty early, as we were exhausted.
On Sunday, we headed out after breakfast to Kilmainham Gaol.
The east wing of Kilmainham Gaol.
The stories associated with Kilmainham Gaol were both gruesome and steeped in history. The particular image above is of the east wing, which is built in the panopticon style. If we dissect the word, we get the words “pan” which is “all” and “ops” which is “eye.” I know that “panopticon” is more like “all-seeing eye” as literally one guard could stand in the middle and turn 360 degrees, and see every single cell from his position. Every prisoner felt watched at all times, and thus were less likely to misbehave or attempt an escape.
Later, I had intended to visit the history and archaeology museums, but I was feeling a bit ill. Hopefully that will not last.
Anyways, here’s to the beginning of another wonderful new week. Thanks to my relative for one or two of these shots, as I had to turn off my phone in Kilmainham Gaol and I was unable to get a good photo of the sealing stone at Newgrange. Cheers!
Sword and Sorcery's Travels 
