Artwork and Shrunken Heads

At last I turned from the coast, and made my way into Cashel, then on to Slane and Drogheda. In Slane, for the first time ever, I didn't call ahead to check the hostel for vacancies. The fact that they were full would have been less frustrating had I not just walked a mile and a quarter in driving rain with my pack on to get there. The proprietor at least offered to drive me back into town--only, I think, to escape my clearly imminent crying jag. Anyway, it gave me a good excuse to spend one night in a B&B, which does seem like a requirement in Ireland. In the morning Peter and Mary (yes, they're all named Mary) gave me an excellent breakfast and a lift to Newgrange and Knowth, the famed neolithic burial chambers.

01_Rock of Cashel

Anyone with any kind of interest in Neolithic people and art (Dad!) really should go see Newgrange and Knowth. They are 5000-year-old passage tombs in the Boyne River Valley that hold a quarter of all known neolithic art in Europe. The passageways are aligned so that the rising sun illuminates the tomb once a year, on the winter equinox. The World Heritage site used to have a waiting list for people to see this phenomenon, but when the wait reached 40 years they changed it to a lottery system. Now, 7-8000 people per year apply for the 25 spots in the passage. I think I have a good shot!

02_More Cashel

The artwork at the site is beautiful, and utterly mysterious. People have put forth a whole range of explanations for the swirls, diamonds, cups and waves that are perfectly chiseled into the walls and curbstones of the mounds, but of course no one knows for sure. They could be purely artistic, they could (and presumably did) have spiritual significance, or they could be a primitive form of writing. No matter the meaning--the first sight of them is breathtaking.

The only bus out of the area went to Drogheda, and here I am, on my last night in Ireland. It's a pretty dismal town, actually. I can't decide if the weather makes the town seem worse, or if the town makes the weather seem worse. Drogheda's main claim to fame, aside from being the jumping-off point to the Boyne valley, is that its local church houses the 300-year-old embalmed head of a Catholic saint. With not much else to do, I went looking for it. I'm particularly grateful for moments like biking down the Dingle peninsula. They make up for moments like today, when I thought, There are so many things I would rather do right now than wander the streets of Drogheda looking for a shrunken head. But, reality is what it is, and today it's a shrunken head. Tomorrow evening, I bypass the greater part of Europe and land in Crete. I'm sure it will be quite a transition. For one thing, I'll leave communal living behind for awhile. I'll be happy to get back to the sun--the remnants of Hurricane Charlie dropped temperatures here to the upper 50's. A little sun, a little beach, a little diving...maybe it won't take too long to adjust!

03_Can you see the bird?

05_Fresco inside church at Cashel

06_View from The Rock

07_Last Round Tower, I Promise

08_Hoar Abbey

09_Mortar and Pestil from Cashel Museum

10_Boyne River Valley

10_Knowth Burial Mound

11_Curbstone at Knowth

12_A Common Design at the Burial Mounds

13_Newgrange Burial Mound

15_Entrance to Newgrange