Trip to Ireland

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Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all well. I'm going to write today about our last trip to Ireland. We went for four days and had a great time. We went by ferry again, and I enjoy the trip on the boat as much as getting there. It's so much fun and getting your own cabin with a shower and 3 course meal just can't be beaten. Flying is quicker true, but the boat trip is so much more fun and less polluting to the environment than flying.

On our second day we went across the border to the Republic of Ireland (getting up at 4.30 am was hard for me but we managed it somehow). We went to a group of 3 burial mounds built around 5000 years ago (the same time as Stonehenge). We went to Newgrange first and went to the visitors centre and they take you there by bus. It's really reasonable (about £5 each I think) and it's funding the excavation of another burial mound called Dowth. It's nice to know that your money is going to something worthwhile.

When we got to Newgrange we had a guide to talk us through what they know about the place. I wasn't able to take any pictures unfortunately on the inside, but have included some pictures I found on the internet. Basically, it's a burial chamber supported by a stone structure with a kind of pyramid shaped roof. The passageway leads you down to the back wall where the stone slabs are, where the bodies were placed. There were also stone bowls (quite big and narrow) appearing to be for ashes, perhaps of animal bones, as that was what was found when the site was excavated. At Winter Solstice (over 5 days) when the sun rises it hits the back wall, taking the people's souls to the afterlife. It's meant to be amazing to see. You can apply and they let people go inside for the Winter Soltice (20 people a night over 5 nights) to watch. You have to be really really lucky to be picked though, as last year 25 000 people applied for the right. We're going to try anyway and see if they let us in.

It is so difficult to describe it, you really have to go there, but I will try anyway. There are standing stones around the outside of the structure, and you can still see inscriptions of wavy lines and what look like arrows on the stones at the entrance. Unfortunately, some stones have been taken away for building over the years, as has happened at Stonehenge and stone circles, but Newgrange is in excellent condition. This is thanks to archaeologists involved in the excavation. We didn't go to Prowth, but I now wish that we did. It had a number of burial mounds on the same site. We went and had a look at Dowth, and excavations are due to start soon I think. There were about four different entrances around the base, but they are looked with a metal gate, to stop people going in (but it didn't stop us). The top of the mound at Dowth has collapsed, so I look forward to seeing it once the restoration has been completed.

It really gives you an insight into the people living in the Stone Age. Their understanding of the stars, planets, astrological cycles, farming, architecture and building is so much more advanced than I realised. The more I find out about them the more it is clear that the Stone Age was the era to live in. Especially when you think about the state of the planet at the moment and the reality that it is only going to get worse. In the stone age there wasn't a great deal of degredation to the planet, like there is now. It would have been a difficult time to live, but evidence proves that the people of the time were much more advanced than I realised, and were able to adapt to their environment well.

We're going back in early September, hopefully with Mum and Trevor if it all goes to plan. And back to Newgrange I think, and to see Prowth as well, if they're keen. That may be my next entry, depending on if I go anywhere else before then.

I'd better go. Only 2 weeks until school holidays - I can't wait!

Hope everyone is well and taking care of themselves.

Love Danielle.

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Photos

Newgrange
This is from the front (obviously). You can see some of the standing stones, and to the right were some wooden buildings, that have obviously deteriorated. The stones at the front were restored to what you see, as they had fallen down. This was done in the 1980's and used all of the original stones that had fallen.

Doorway to Newgrange
This was the main entrance and through which when the sun rises, hit the back way where the dead lay.

Interior of Newgrange
I found this on a website, and it shows you what it's like on the inside.

Structure of Newgrange
If you were to walk around to the right of Newgrange, this is what you see from the outside.

Engravings
There were quite a few engravings able to be seen, including on the standing stones. There isn't clarity as to what they mean. They could symbolise eternal life, letting life become part of the earth, astrological, who knows........