Fairy Trees and Braveheart

Today was a very cool day.  We learned all about the mythology and mysticism of Ireland.  We went back thousands of years to how Ireland started.  Unfortunately, it rained in the morning so we couldn’t see a lot of the morning but the day got better as we went along.  We all got very wet for a little bit.  We wouldn’t have had a successful trip to Ireland without it raining, right?

The tour was of the Celtic Boyne Valley.  First was the Hill of Tara.  This is when it was raining so we didn’t get a lot of pictures.  This was the ancient seat of power and more than 100 kings were coronated there.  It is also where St. Patrick came to confront the pagans there.

Statue of St. Patrick

Stone of Destiny – it is said that if the true king touches the stone, it screams

Then, to Trim Castle – It is the largest Anglo-Norman castle but it’s better know as the set for many of the scenes in Braveheart (haha).  It’s amazing what they can change a site with the camera.  The Norman architecture featured square edges/towers.  It took 30 years to build this property and it was protected by a curtain wall, moat, and a ditch.

Trim Castle

Where all the scenes were shot

Family photo

poop shoot

Outer walls

underground tunnels

Slits to shoot arrows out of

Gate, fotified

One of the towers

Underground kitchen, also a natural refrigerator

Banquet hall up to, kitchen underground

Loughcrew is the location of passage tombs and megalithic burial chambers that are around 5,000 years old.  In the tombs the ancient carving show us that the people were experts in astronomy and math.  We found carvings that allowed them to tell the beginning of Sping and the beginning of Fall.

The passage mound

Witche’s Rock

Inside the passage tomb

Carvings

Stacked rocks creating the mound

The final stop was to the Hill of Uisneacht.  This is the spiritual center of Ireland.  This is the burial site of the Goddess Eiru (Ireland was named after her), and is the entrance to the 5th province of Ireland – the mythical realm of Mide.  This is where all the provinces come together.  It is the site where the first fire in Ireland was lit, and in more recent times, it is where people come to gather for political and/or social rallies.  The Fairy trees are abundant here and are unique because they grown out of rocks.  You are NEVER to cut down a Fairy tree.  One story that is told over and over again is that they were building a road from the east of Ireland to the west of Ireland.  There was a Fairy tree in the way so they had to spend $10m more Euros to go around it.  Another is that the car company DeLorean was building a car factory in Ireland (did you know that all DeLoreans were built in Ireland?) and there was a Fairly tree on the site where they wanted to build.  One morning the people woke to no tree on the site- someone had cut it down. It is said that this is why DeLorean is no longer!

Underneath a Fairy tree

Beautiful Landscape

The Fairy Tree otherwise known as the Hawthorn Tree

Goddess Eiru

Clovers!

This is a working farm

Our brains were dead by the end of the day with lots of history and names and Gaelic words.  But, it was also a magical day of Fairies, shamrocks, and movie magic.

Author: HigmanTravels

We are a family of 5 traveling the world for one year. We are attempting this entire trip around the world via trains, ships/boats, and automobiles -- yes, that's right, no planes. View all posts by HigmanTravels