We arrived home from our trip over the weekend, filled with new experiences and stories to share. Ireland is truly a beautiful and magical country, and the people are some of the nicest I've ever met. It's a country rich in fascinating history and folklore, and we got to experience that firsthand. Signs of it's ancient and sometimes brutally violent history are all around you.
Dublin is a cool city, very busy, kind of reminded me of New York, with all the cabs buzzing about. We loved sitting in the pubs enjoying a nice drink with the locals. But the best part of our trip was exploring the country side. From Glendalough to Kilkenny, Cashel and so on, every town has it's own little story. Glendalough was just beautiful, this was an old monastic site dating back from around the 10th century. After this we made our way down the coast of Wicklow to Arklow and then over to Kilkenny. This was probably my favorite city, it's a medieval city with a magnificent castle at it's center. We would have liked to have spent more time in Kilkenny, but we had to move on to our next stop.
Cashel castle was bigger than I expected! Also the town of Cashel was very quaint as well. After this we got the pleasure of exploring Grange stone circle at Lough Gur. This huge stone circle is made up of about 100 stones. It dates back to the Neolithic time period, and it is said that this stone circle aligns with the sunrise on the summer solstice. Visiting this sacred place has spiked my interest to learn more about it's secret history. You will see one of the photos I posted is of the stone circle.
After this we headed over to the Cliffs of Moher. This is the most strikingly beautiful landscape I've ever seen. You will see in the photo how steep these cliffs really are! We also got to see puffins which are native birds to that area of Ireland.
Any amount of words and pictures just doesnt give justice to this beautiful and mysterious country. It's history is so vast and ranges all the way back from the Neolithic time period, to the Viking invasions, Christianity and so forth. I recommend anyone (especially if your pagan) to visit Ireland! We had a wonderful time. Enjoy the pictures!
Blessings )O(
What a wonderful vacation. Oh, I would love to visit...I'd love to see the Cliffs of Moher.
ReplyDeleteMary
Please receive my warm welcome back to your native homeland! What a suitable occasion to quote some fair verses that now come across my mind....
ReplyDelete1. I'm sitting on the cliffs of Moher
Looking out to sea
The broad Atlantic swells below me
A bridge love between you and me
The puffins cry above the tide
The seagulls glide through the air
Calling you back from New York City
Back home to the county of Clare
CHORUS: Come back, come back sweet Annie
Come back for I will be there
We'll sing and we'll play
In the old-fashioned way
On the hillside of sweet County Clare
2. I'll hold your hand, we'll walk through the Burren
With limestone and flowers so rare
The yellows and reds, the gold in their petals
Will match your blue eyes and fair hair
We'll visit Quinn Abbey and Fein Cill Sula
Where holy ones once knelt in prayer
But how can this be, if you stay away darling
From your home in the county of Clare? CHORUS
3. I'm looking across at the great Aran Islands
Inis Mean, Inis Mor, Inis Oirr
They've nestled there neatly caressed by the ocean
Surrounded by water so clear
But you have the smoke and the dust of the city
Where people pass by and don't care
There's love and there's welcome as warm as the sunshine
For you in the county of Clare
(Learned from a cassette tape of a woman singing and playing harp on the Cliffs of Moher! the song was written by Dermot Kelly.)
I'd love to visit Ireland some day!
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your lovely discription of Ireland, having lived in Ireland for over fifty years I can agree with you, there is definitely some strange magic here, it is real, and it can be felt everywhere. Reverence for the divine feminine is very deeply felt, something which, sadly, has almost ben extinguished in the five nations on the island of Btitain, next door. Mr. Oliver Cromwell and his troop of sanctimonious dullards destroyed much of the ancient culture of celtic Britain, this great Puritan also provoked centuries of hatred for the English establisment in Ireland. Hopefully in these freer times we will all regain the ancient peace and reverence we once had.
ReplyDeleteThe Anglo-Saxon nation now called England, settled on celtic Britain over fifteen hundred years ago, and quickly began to conquer the native people, the nations thus conquered were ; Cornish, Irish, Manx, Picts, Scots, Welsh. The English face of Britain is not representative of spirit of the land, except where the English adopted the ancient mystical spirit, which many did. Pragmatic rationalism gained the upper hand in all places controlled by the English establishment, and the old ways were, sadly, lost.
The day of the establishment is over, and I send friendly greetings to all devoted to Brigid.