Dublin to Kilkenny (Newgrange, Glendalough)
We enjoyed a final breakfast in Dublin though we had trouble opening our safe which did not respond to our code. The housekeeping person was able to use a master code to free up our passports and we made it downstairs by 9am to meet our Walter’s Way driver, Michael Blake. He loaded our bags in his Ford minivan — more than enough room for the two of us. We got underway heading toward Newgrange, about an hour north of Dublin.
We quickly got to know and like Michael (or Mike). He proved to be an endless font of information for us (or was willing to make things up) which was just what we wanted. By the time we got to Newgrange we had already covered questions about the Irish Uprising, Revolution and Civil War, Brexit, the weather, our itinerary, ground rules for the tour (few), changes we might make to our trip, and more.
We arrived at Newgrange well ahead of our 11am appointed time. We started in the Visitor Center and enjoyed the extensive and informative displays about the site, which was really three sites: Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. Each was built around 3200 BC, making them older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.
Partially oriented, we waited for our bus to Knowth, which I didn’t expect would be the first stop on our tour. The visits to the sites are strictly timed and you are slotted into a group of about 20 for each bus ride and tour. Knowth is another burial chamber, similar to but different from Newgrange, a few kilometers away. The Knowth site is actually bigger than Newgrange with additional satellite tombs. It offers fascinating parallels and contrasts with Newgrange and makes for an excellent first stop. The exposed Neolithic artwork is extensive and quite compelling. The burial chamber has collapsed so general tours cannot go inside but our excellent park service guide described her two special visits.
One of the notable differences between the sites is that at Knowth an extensive number of white quartz rocks and round ocean stones are scattered at ground level in front of the entrance; at Newgrange these same types of rocks are stacked vertically on the face of the mound, making for a much more dramatic display. The discrepancy is due to different interpretations by the main archaeologists for each site. Put me down in the camp that the stones are offerings brought by devotees and scattered at the foot of the tomb’s mouth. It doesn’t seem plausible that the stones were placed in the vertical wall without mortar. But, as I said, it makes for a prettier, more dramatic view and is the famous “signature” of Newgrange.
Our guide showed us around the site and invited us to climb to the top of the mound for a 360-degree view of the surrounding horizon. It was very windy and a grey overcast day so we didn’t stay too long.
Before leaving Knowth we saw a short film (always pronounced “fillum” in Ireland) about the site and I took shots of this fine timeline (click to see full screen and zoom in if needed).
We took another bus ride to Newgrange and got a different tour guide, this time for an astonishing visit inside the tomb. It’s amazing that they let tour groups inside the small corridor and chamber, actually touching (inevitably, even if you’re trying not to) these millennia old stones and carvings. But no photos inside.
As part of her spiel, the guide turned off the lights inside the tomb which plunged us into total darkness with our guide’s voice emanating from somewhere in the void. She illustrated the light coming into the chamber on the Winter Solstice and it was indeed remarkable. It’s simply amazing that we humble tourists are let into this sacred chamber. I don’t expect this will be the case a few decades from now. We exited the chamber and had a few minutes to see the outside of the site while the other half of our group went inside.
Our group did not see the Dowth site though evidently it is a less developed mound that fell victim to a botched 19th century excavation that collapsed part of the inner chamber.
It’s quite remarkable to contemplate the considerable effort that went into the construction of these mounds more than five thousand years ago by people we know so little about. They quarried the stones from sites up to 100 kilometers away, floated them by sea and up the River Boyne, then hauled them up to the site to carve and build these astronomically aligned tombs. It is even more remarkable to consider there are many similar passage tombs, some a millennium or more older in western Europe, mostly near the seacoast (Gavrinis and Barnenez, for example). This was a pre-Celtic culture that shared ideas and complex structures over a large geographic area and yet we have little actual knowledge of them.
We reconnected with Mike in the parking lot and headed south about an hour toward Glendalough, chatting with Mike most of the way. We were on highways around Dublin then veered onto smaller roads. The day was cloudy so the drive through the Wicklow Mountains was not as pretty as it might have been.
We arrived at Glendalough without tickets. Mike (and Walter’s Way) bought us entry to the park. We walked to the 6th century monastery village and took a quick look around, focusing on the round tower which dominates the sites.
After a quick look around, Barb headed to the visitor center while I headed toward the lakes to see what I could see. I made it as far as the lower lake, took a quick snap and decided it was not worth going further.
We each had to pay Eu4 for entry to the visitors center to see the film and displays which we needed to understand what we saw. This was one of the sites our friend Frances had recommended highly. I think it’s because she is a hiker and would have enjoyed walking around the lakes on a pleasant day. It was not a pleasant day and we are not hikers. I’m glad we saw Glendalough but I don’t think we needed to spend much more time there.
It was back in the van and onward for another hour or so to Kilkenny. We arrived at our Rivercourt Hotel and were pleased enough with our room. Certainly the hotel was centrally located, quite near Kilkenny Castle and the center of town. By the time we were ready to scope out dinner it was raining. We sorted out umbrellas for each of us and ventured out. Mike (and Walter) highly recommended Kyteler’s Inn which was about 8 minutes walk from the hotel.
We checked on Matt the Millers Bar, a pub just across the street from the hotel which had live music and a crowd, but they had no tables available for at least 30 minutes. We headed onward to Kyteler’s Inn and found that it had live music as well. Barb asked if we could get a table and the waiter leaned in close to tell her the kitchen was already closed. It seemed a little unlikely and Barb suspected it may have been a brush off. She wanted me to go back in and ask (as a white male) but I wasn’t interested in raising a fuss for a place I didn’t especially want to go. Besides, we had passed another place, Butcher Restaurant that was higher rated and had been my first choice. We were able to get a table at Butcher and proceeded to share a very nice rib eye along with chips (fries) and a side salad. We got chimichurri and bearnaise sauces to go with the steak. A pleasing meal. This was one instance where I was glad that I had done pre-trip research into various options for dinners.
We retired to the hotel and our room and a slate of trivia game shows on TV including multiple episodes of The Chase, a rather obnoxious British show (I didn’t realize there was an American spinoff, at least for a while).
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