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Published: February 26th 2022
Dear All
Greetings on my second blog entry for my time in country number 100! I have just completed my application for the TCC to become a fully-fledged Centurian, in which you have to tick all the countries you’ve been to. I had a mini-scare when I added up all my ticks to just 99, but then I realised that the island of Rhodes which I visited in 2003 forms part of the TCC’s “Greek Aegean Islands” category, and thus my calculations of 100 were indeed correct – phew!
After a really good second night’s sleep, testing the accommodation’s electric blanket for added warmth (it was chilly during my time there!), I was ready to set out on my second full day of explorations. This time I was headed to a few places north of Dublin, a couple of them out of County Dublin and into neighbouring County Meath. Meath used to be one of the five ancient provinces of Ireland, until it was incorporated into Leinster in the 12
th century, forming four Irish provinces which still continue to this day: Leinster, Munster, Connaught and Ulster. As such, there seemed to be a bit of an aura about modern
County Meath as the ancient heartland of Ireland, and rightly so given the place I was headed. I first took a bus to the airport, which is actually a fantastic national interchange as you can get buses there to pretty much every part of Ireland. From there, I awaited the hourly bus heading north-westwards, into Meath, and onto the fabled, Irish historical and cultural centre of the Hill of Tara.
In my pre-trip reading, I had read about the hundreds of individual ancient Celtic kings of Ireland, and their constant squabbles with their neighbours, similar to the clan system of Scotland I think. Despite there being hundreds of kings, there was great honour bestowed on the king who could proclaim himself the High King of Tara. Each individual king was overlorded by his “great king”, who in turn pledged allegiance to the “Rí Ruirech”, or “King of Overkings”. This powerful man would have been a king of one of the ancient provinces, and the most powerful of them would aspire to gain the title bestowed upon him on the Hill of Tara. Kings from the powerful O’Brien and O’Neill clans often claimed this title, although it is often recognised
that only one man came as close as one could fully get to becoming “King of Ireland”, and this was a gentleman called Brian Boru (941 – 1014). Brian (of Brian Boru’s harp fame back in Trinity College) was first King of Munster, then also dominated Leinster, before eventually becoming High King of Ireland from 1002 to 1014, after which he was killed at the Battle of Clontarf with the Vikings of Orkney and the Isle of Man, despite his side gaining victory. After this, there was no real claimant to the title of King of Ireland as the 12
th century saw the arrival of the Anglo-Normans and their domination of the island.
Fascinated by this history of hundreds of Celtic kings, and the stories of the High Kings of Tara, I was intrigued to visit the Hill of Tara as it lies only 30 miles north-west of Dublin. Thus, my bus from the airport was to take me to a place called Tara Cross, whence it was a short 15-minute walk uphill to this legendary place. The bus journey took around an hour, and during it I felt the wonderful sensation that I often get while travelling that
I am in my happy place once more. I was on the top deck, front seat, with great views of the rolling Irish countryside all around, and listening to some songs I had downloaded onto my MP3 player for an Irish feel: Eimear Quinn's "Hibernia", "The Voice" (Eurovision 1996 winner) and her version of the Irish Gaelic air "An Raibh Tú ar an gCarraig" - these songs are just pure Irish beauty, and really got me in the mood for the day ahead. I highly recommend them.
I enjoyed my time on the Hill of Tara very much. There is no formal visitor centre, and the place is continually open. Upon arrival I headed first to a Buddhist-themed shop called the Tara Open Studio for a short rest. Unfortunately the place had a sign saying it was closed for a few hours, but I spent a bit of time on one of the chairs placed outside just as the sun was poking out for a short time, and got to know a really friendly local cat. I also very much appreciated a sign in the window of the shop proclaiming it to be a “C-word Free Zone”, referring to
a Dalai Lama quote of the need for human beings to live happy, and free from disturbing emotions of anger, fear, suspicion and misery – Amen to that! I think the whole world could learn a lesson from this.
After my short rest, I headed up to the top of the Hill of Tara, noting an unusually large number of crows and crows' nests around, which added a certain foreboding nature to the place. Nothing much remains of what there used to be, but there are certainly many mounds dotting the hilltop, and a great 360 degree vista over the green fielded landscape all around, to every horizon as far as the eye could see. It was a commanding location, and I thought the perfect kind of place where High Kings of Ireland would wish to be seen and to be crowned. The pinnacle of the site is the mound referred to as Cormac’s House, upon which sits the Lia Fáil, or Stone of Destiny. This is a sizeable menhir-shaped stone, upon which would-be kings would stand, and if the stone roared three times, he would be crowned.
Nearby was the ominously named Mound of Hostages, one of
Friendly Local Cat
Tara Open Studio, Hill of Tarathe many mounds in the area which were built in ancient times to hold the cremated and buried remains of important people in ancient Celtic society. The whole country of Ireland is dotted with such mounds, and on the Isle of Man I remember them referred to as Fairy Mounds. I believe Ireland also has tales of leprechauns luring people into the mounds with promises of riches, and when arriving they are trapped there forever. I can imagine that due to their original purposes of tombs and burial sites, there must have been some kind of spiritual aura over them which led the local people to develop such tales and superstitions. I learnt that the English word “banshee” comes from the Irish Gaelic “bean sí”, meaning “fairy mound woman”, and is the wailing spirit a person hears just before they pass and are carried away to the next life. I could well-imagine in the olden days, that to be around such mounds covered in mist on a moonlit night would have been quite spine-tingling. I have really found ancient Celtic culture fascinating, I had already learned a bit of Irish Gaelic before my trip, and was happy to be exploring
Tara Open Studio
Wonderful sentiments such an important part of Irish history.
The wind was frightful up there though, and bitterly cold. After exploring, I was happy to be heading back downhill again, and I stopped by at a lovely little local café and gift shop called Maguires. Here I had lunch, bacon, egg, tomato and avocado on toast, and bought a lovely little square piece of artwork based on the Hill of Tara, before heading back again to the bottom of the hill and the main road once more.
At this point, I made an impromptu decision to add an extra destination to my itinerary for the day, noticing that the bus that took me to Tara continued on to the small town of Kells around 15 miles further north-west. Having seen the Book of Kells the day before, I was intrigued to learn more about the place where it was kept for 700 years, so I took the next bus heading in that direction. Upon arrival, I had around 45 minutes before a bus I was aiming for was due to head back to Dublin, but this was perfectly adequate as it was a small place.
I found the people
Hill of Tara
From above, photo on display board at entrance of Kells extremely friendly, and I exchanged a greeting with pretty much everyone I passed – how lovely are these people. Although I was disappointed never to hear a “top o’ the mornin’ to yer”, they often used the phrase “how’re yer doin’?” instead. I come from Yorkshire, where people are the same in greeting people they pass with a “y’alright” or similar, and I have always found it unusual that in London, people on the street just do not make eye contact or acknowledge one another – if you do, you often get a look as if you’re a nutcase or something. This is one of the things that I loved most about Ireland, the acknowledging of other people around you.
Kells was lovely. The main place to visit was St Columba’s church, high on a hill overlooking the town centre below. Whilst this is a modern working church, it sits on grounds once occupied by the old monastery which once housed the famous Book. Little remains of the original monastery though, except a famous 30 metre high 10
th century round tower, which was impressive to see, and four 9
th century Celtic crosses in various states of repair
Crows' Nests, Hill of Tara
There were a lot of crows up there for some reason dotted around the church’s graveyard. It was quite amazing to see the reliefs on these crosses in particular, being able to make out such scenes as the Baptism of Jesus and the Crucifixion on stone created around 1200 years ago – quite remarkable! I have also since learned more about the importance of the ancient monastery here and its housing of the Book of Kells, by watching the hauntingly beautiful cartoon feature film "The Secret of Kells" which I very much recommend. After an espresso and a loo break at a very friendly local café, I was ready to board the bus again, this time heading into Dublin City Centre, to connect with onward transport for my final destination of the day.
I was heading this time for the small seaside town of Malahide, just north of Dublin, and only a couple of miles east of Swords. To get there, the bus to Dublin dropped me off at the city’s bus station, from where it was a short walk to Connolly Train Station, where there are regular DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transport) trains heading towards my destination. I hopped on board the next train, and arrived in Malahide around
Hill of Tara
County Meath dusk, just as the sun was setting. Eager to take photos while there was still some sort of daylight, I high-tailed it to two major attractions of the town: first, beautiful Malahide Castle dating back to the 12
th century and its surrounding landscaped gardens reminiscent of an English country house; and second, the town’s harbour with views out over the Broadmeadow Estuary towards the Irish Sea and beyond. I took some good photos, but noted that compared to Kells and Tara, the people of Malahide were a rather snooty bunch, and rather than giving an Irish greeting like most people I’d encountered that day, seemed to look away in terror if eye contact was made. I felt that the place had probably become a posh, gentrified district of Dublin, where people considered themselves more important than they were – there are a number of places like this in London. The light was beginning to fade at this stage, and the heavens began to open with light but persistent rain, so I abandoned my plan to walk a couple of miles southwards along the town’s coast and beach, and took a warm and dry bus ride heading westwards instead, back to
Hill of Tara
County Meath my lovely accommodation in Swords.
It was a lovely day, which I had enjoyed immensely. I settled in for the evening with a small bottle of wine and a delicious SuperValu ready meal (much nicer than it sounds), put the heating on full-blast, and went to sleep with very pleasant memories of a lovely second day in Ireland.
I shall write about my final full day and the day of my return journey in my next blog entry.
Until then, thanks for reading, and all the best for now.
Alex
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Ake Och Emma
Ake Dahllof and Emma Holmbro
We have to go to Ireland (outside of Dublin) some day
There are so many interesting places I want to visit and there is so little time. I so would like to visit Ireland now. /Ake