Travel Stories - Ireland

It turns out that we first go to the site where the (in)famous battle took place - the battle on the Boinne River in 1688. There is a small museum where they show a short film about the battle itself. In other parts of the museum you can see some old guns and other weaponry. It appears that you can still see part of the battlefield. It was here that 60,000 soldiers stood opposite each other - the Protestants of William of Orange III and Jacques II. The latter lost and would return to France. Protestantism would prevail and because of that the problems would continue to this day - reason that the Protestants in Belfast wear orange rings on their black bowler hats during the orange marches. We drive back by bus and arrive at the visitor center of "Bru de Boinne" which literally means the palace of the River Boyne. At 12:45 there is a tour that we can take to Newgrange; we decide to go and see one of the three tombs. We can leave our big bags there and look at the museum first. Then we walk over a large number of wooden rafts tot he bus. The special bus drives us and we see the weather change – finally it’s dry. In about 15 minutes we arrive at the site.

We get a short introduction and our guide explains that nobody knows who is responsible for building these tombs (if they are tombs). There are dozens in this region and three of them are really big. The stones come from a few kilometers away and were found everywhere when the tombs collapsed. The white stones come from Wicklow, about 80 km away. The people who lived here were boatmen and most likely they have transported the stones by river and then pushed them up the hill with round beams and pull them up. We walk around the large ((80 meters long diameter and 13 meters high) tomb of which some say it never looked this way at all. Next to that till the day of today we don’t know where the building (tomb) was used for; human remains were found inside and it’s clear that is was a sacred place where the dead were kept after they died – well for a while. But it’s unclear if this was a place where only Kings and nobles were buried and/or also “normal” people. Another explanation is that the place was a calender.  

After a short walk around the tomb we stand in front of the entrance. A square hole above the doorway is where once a year the sun comes through and shines right through the hallway - a sample of astrology from thousands of years ago. There is also a beautiful big stone in front of the entrance with round symbols still very clear. No one knows if this is a language or signs and what they stand for. The entrance is small, the hall is narrow and low and I barely pass through it. A large group now stands in a small courtyard. There seems to be 3 meters of earth on the roof which is built in a kind of cone shape. Never before (in 5000 years) a drop of rainwater has come through. On the three sides are also stones with signs on it. Unfortunately it isn’t allowed to take any pictures. We walk outside and ten minutes later we are picked up by the bus again and brought back to the visitor center.

We pick up our bags at the visitor centre and ask just in case if there is a bus or something like a bus going from here to the small village of Slane which is about 9 kilometers away. It has started to rain again and hitching is almost no option anymore. But we actually have little choice and write a cardboard with "Slane" on it. Unfortunately, most cars go the other way. After about half an hour a car stops. A couple (half Irish, half New Sealand) stops and we can join them. Actually they don’t have to go to Slane itself but because of the nice chat in the car they take us rightaway to our hostel which is a bit out of town (2,5 km to be precize). We meet the big size owner and we check in in a cozy dormitory for 10 people where (still) nobody checked in yet. We look around and decide to walk back to the town for a bite to eat and a drink.  

Slane consists of a number of beautiful 18th century houses but the big touristic draw is the castle which bears the same name as the village. Especially the four identical dwellings on the big junction in town are special; they are situated on exactly the same position on each side of the large central intersection. Legend goes that somebody asked a guy to built it who had four sisters who couldn’t stand each other. This way they could keep an eye on each other. Because we do not have the budget to order food in the restaurant or pub, we decide to pick up food at the takeaway and eat it in a pub. It is raining and since there is no sheltered place anywhere, this seems our best option. Walking on the street while it’s raining with a bag full of scented shawarma, we sneak into the quietest bar and sit at the table in a dark corner. After ordering a Guinness we attack. With a full stomach it is time to go to the nicest bar in the village - the "Boyle". It is football night and there is a live band - it is busy and very cozy. It seems that the whole region is in the pub and everyone sings and dances - from children to the old people's room and all that at eight o'clock in the evening. When the match is over it seems that most people go back home; we drink another beer and decide to walk back to our hostel where another couple unfortunately checked in as well.

It’s about eight o’clock in the morning the next day when we get up and take a shower. We pack our bags and decide to have a cup of coffee in the kitchen before we go. The owner indicates that we can take what we want from the kitchen in terms of breakfast - a group left a lot of things last week he says. It becomes a king's meal with cheese, toast, milk and fruit. We take our big bags wit hus and walk to Slane Castle which is a stone's throw from the hostel. It is still very early and very quiet at the complex where often events and large (rock) concerts are organized. And all this against the background of a beautiful castle from 1785. In recent years there have been concerts of Queen, Thin Lizzy, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Guns N 'Roses, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Madonna. Part of U2's fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, are recorded in the castle. In addition, the video of Pride (In The Name Of Love) is recorded in the castle. In addition to all these facts, it is simply a beautiful castle with corner towers and a beautiful green lawn in front of it. We walk back to the town, taking a picture of the beautiful little St. Patrick’s church and walk then on further to our busstop. We are on our way back to the capital Dublin.