A day at the Hill of Tara and Newgrange

Hello from Dublin! We’ve been here just under a week and are having a lovely time! For the first few days we got to frolic with our friends Jen and Emma who we visited in Wales last year (they relocated there from Chicago a couple of years ago). It was so wonderful that they were able to meet us here. There’s something so fun and magical about four people meeting up in Dublin, two of whom live in Wales, one of whom grew up in Wales, and all of whom met in Chicago. The world is so large yet so small!

As of Monday night we’ve been on our own, and yesterday we went on a day tour to the Hill of Tara and Newgrange. I thought I’d take a little moment to share some photos from the day. The basic premise is ancient sites, thousands of years of history… and all on a windy, rainy and cold day. Well sometimes sunny, sometimes calm. Our tour guide joked that Ireland really only has two seasons anymore, but that you get four seasons in one day. Entirely true, as I had my jacket open, closed, hat off, on, umbrella up, closed, all in the span of a day.

This is the Stone of Destiny at the Hill of Tara, where Ireland’s high kings were once crowned. Legend has it that the stone screamed three times if someone was the true king. Sadly, we didn’t get to see that happen.

Mel took some time for quick sketches on the Hill of Tara.

Here’s the little entrance to the Mound of the Hostages.

There was a beautiful old graveyard next to the church near the Hill of Tara, with ages old graves all the way up to ones from the present day!

The main stop on the tour was Newgrange. Did I mention it was windy? About every other photo of me was either the wind blowing in front of my face or me moving my hair out of my face. No joke!

Here we are overlooking the River Boyne. (The pink stickers marked our tour time.)

Newgrange is just amazing and immense. Big sky included!

I’ve wanted to visit Newgrange for longer than I can remember… maybe 20 years!

You’ve likely seen photos of the entrance stone before (with its famous triple spiral), but I had no idea  was so big. Thank goodness for being short, as the tour guide let us “little ones” stand in the front so for once in my life I had a great view!

No photos inside the passage tomb but seriously–it’s just amazing. They even recreate what it looks like inside on the Winter Solstice and the light passes right through the roofbox. But there were lots of other things on the site that were wonderful to see and enjoy, too!

outfit details

wool jacket – The Gap (about 70% off!)
dress – made by me
shoes – Clarks that I bought in Dublin because I made stupid footwear choices for this trip
shawl and fingerless gloves – made by me (shawl is Ishbel, gloves are October Leaves)
beret – made by me (pattern is Sunday Pictorial Beret)
backpack – Fjällräven

On the way back to Dublin we stopped through the town of Howth (where Mel and I are actually planning to visit longer later in the week), and our guide took us up to a cliff walk overlooking Howth Head where you can see Baily Lighthouse sticking out at the very end.

You feel so small looking out at the Irish Sea, watching ships crossing. I mean… seriously!

All in all it was just a wonderful day!

We’re having a great time and still have a few days left to amuse ourselves. Hope you enjoyed a little peek into one of the days on our holiday!