Irish I Was Still There, Part 3

Fingers crossed this is my last post about Ireland. 

On our penultimate full day abroad, Kilee and I did a lick of jewelry shopping in Limmerick before trundling further north and making a quick pit stop at Bunratty Castle, which was just as adorable as its name. 

Nestled in the center of a colorful little true-to-era village, complete with low single-storied buildings sporting thatched roofs (!!) this castle stood towering and regal, the most intact and decorated of all the edifices on our trip.  Because of time constraints, we decided to tour the castle on our own, rather than with a guide, which also meant that we were not very well supervised and so we touched a lot of the things inside. 

The castle was an exciting labyrinth of chambers and dungeons and twisting narrow staircases, complete with secret peepholes for listening in/spying on guests.  (Or just spying on the men in general because women apparently weren’t allowed in public castle functions, as they can be such a plague upon the eyes and the ears and all the senses.)  

The castle itself had been restored after years of intruders pillaging and stealing everything, Grinch-like, even down to the windows, so all of the furniture brought in was authentically from the medieval era, if not from Bunratty itself.  Every now and then, there would be a paltry velvet rope in front of a table or a bed or something, but most of the benches and elaborately carved dowry chests were left out in the open, exposed to my curious and weighty touch.

Also, Kilee found some piglets and then we visited the woolen mills because everything was cute and important and worthwhile.

But then came the real zenith of our trip, both in experience and physical location.  The cliffs of insanity.  Moher or less, this was one of my favorite parts of our entire trip.  The cliffs stretched across a squiggly five miles of coastline, and we approached them pretty much smack in the center. 

They. 



Were. 



Astounding. 

So ethereal and the most majestic and magnificent, and all the other superlatives you can think of.  One of those moments where it feels so unreal or maybe so surreal that your whole body wishes it could cry.  





Only about 10 minutes after we arrived, blankets of mist rolled in, obfuscating the cliffs all around, though it quickly dissipated soon after.  We walked and walked in one direction, new vistas opening up for us every few hundred meters, before turning around to try the other direction.  Only, the sun was setting and people were leaving, so we didn’t tread too far.  







O’Brien’s Tower (no, not built by her) was closed, but we stood against the fence, looking out at the churning water and feeling the wind on our faces and relishing the reality that this was our present. 

We stayed the night in Galway, which was a little more on the young and hip side, almost like a college town.  The city was well into its preparations for the next days’ St. Patrick’s celebrations (or Paddy’s, as everyone there called it) and as we walked through the city center, we were shocked by pub after pub rolling out 40-50 extra kegs of beer in front of their doors.

As our trip drew to a close, we drove back in the direction of Dublin, mildly amused that it only took roughly three hours to drive across the country.  We stopped a little north of the capital in Bru na Boinne to visit the prehistoric passage tombs there.  By now, you know how I felt and continue to feel about the castles and the cliffs and the sheep and the Irish men, but of everything we visited, this was one of the most interesting.

Newgrange is one of three passage tombs (the others being Knowth and Dowth) situated along the River Boyne.  Built in 3200 BC, Newgrange is over 5000 years old, 500 years older than the pyramids at Giza.  Over the centuries, the exterior has been restored though the interior remains as it was initially constructed.  The domed effect was created by layering gigantic slabs of rock on top of each other, gradually closing in on themselves.  The people who built this tomb did not use any mortar, but rather chinked the spaces between slabs with smaller rocks, creating a watertight structure that has withstood millennia of windy, rainy weather.  That amazes me in itself, but there’s more. 

Newgrange is believed to have been a tomb and possibly a religious site of sorts, as human ashes were discovered inside.  The interior is surprisingly compact, especially given the tomb’s impressive size.  Requiring visitors to crouch through a small entrance and subsequent narrow passageway, the tomb opens up into a small enclosure with three little alcoves at the back and on either sides of the tomb.  Kilee pointed out that the tomb had been constructed in a rudimentary cruciform fashion, which I found interesting, given the seemingly sacred nature of the structure. 

Above the entrance to the tomb was a small rectangular opening, much like a transom.  Between December 18^th and 24^th of the winter solstice, there is one day a year when the sun will steadily illuminate the entrance passageway through this opening for a continuous 15-17 minutes as it rises, and then the tomb will lie in darkness for another year until the next solstice.  I was flabbergasted that a prehistoric people WITHOUT A WRITTEN LANGUAGE was so in tune with the seasons and the sun and the rotation of the earth that they could have constructed this tomb with such a unique and deliberate orientation. 

There are no words or written inscriptions on or in the tomb, though a variety of scroll work and various basic shapes are visible on the exterior slabs around the base of the tomb, as well as on the roof and walls inside.  Historians have concocted their own theories behind these inscriptions and what they mean or represent, but I believed they were simply intended to be decorative. 

As I stood inside the tomb and gazed upon those swirls and shapes carefully and intentionally carved literally thousands of years ago, I felt strongly impressed that this was built to be a temple of sorts – a hallowed place for the dead, a place to perform sacred rituals, or a place to be in tune with nature, and I felt so privileged to be inside.  Not to be weird and cheesy, but I felt connected to humanity in a way I’ve never felt before, and the spirit was stronger than it has been for me in a very, very long time. 

It was such a beautiful and unique and remarkable experience, and I loved that we took the time to visit. 

Our final sight-seeing adventure was in Trim where we visited the castle complex, one of the oldest medieval fortresses still standing in Ireland.  The castle was not considered to be just the main defensive building in the center, but also included the adjacent great hall, the cellars and kilns, the watch towers, and even the surrounding wall and moat.  For fun, the castle was built with 20 sides, which turned out to be bad and unfortunate planning, as more men were required to cover the surplus of corners and hiding spots when under siege.  

Even though the ruins were crumbling, I climbed up on the perimeter wall and onto one of the remaining watchtowers because no one said I couldn’t. 

It was exceptionally windy and chilly and rainy, but the weather was authentically Irish, so we didn’t mind all that much.  We took our first and only guided tour of trip to learn more about the castle, ending up on top amidst the turrets with a picturesque view of the town at sunset. 

After our chilly explorations, we nabbed hot chocolates from a cute bakery and then stayed overnight at the cutest Airbnb with our exceptionally friendly and adorable hosts, Fabian and Paul, who signed all of their emails to us from the two of them and their 3 cockerspaniels: Rue, Casey, and Maxie. Yes, every email. 

The morning we left, Paul made us pain au chocolat and smoothies and urged us to take some fresh fruit with us.  I grabbed a banana and a clementine, throwing them in what became my snack bag for our 11 hour flight from London to Phoenix.  Ultimately, I forgot about the fruit, and then got caught up at customs and threatened with a $300 fine for not declaring the produce I’d unintentionally brought back.  Airport security didn’t end up fining me, but they did have to x-ray and go through all of my baggage to make sure I wasn’t smuggling additional potentially dangerous and illicit fruits with me across country borders. 

All in all, our trip unfolded so seamlessly and wonderfully.  Our housing situations worked out in every new city we visited, we didn’t run into any major travel-related hiccups, and Kilee’s and my dynamic after spending 24 hours a day together for an entire week was just as congenial as being friends who live in separate houses in Arizona.  It was a dream week, such a fun getaway, and exactly as picturesque as the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens portrayed.  Do yourself a favor and pop over for a visit and some Irish tea.