The Ancient Side of Ireland

Well, the music in this internet cafe is atrocious and doing nothing for my concentration so bear with me through this post. Yesterday was a breath of fresh air. First of all, it wasn't pouring down rain the entire day, so that was a nice change. Second of all, as it was our last chance to say goodbye to all of the Greystones favorites that we had come to know (or at least love), we made a stop at the YMCA where I had done my studying while at Taylor. Hoping simply to drop off a note for one of my New Life Academy students, instead we spent an encouraging and heartwarming two hours with Lisa and Jon, the leaders of the Y. They were both interesting and interested and we were able to speak candidly and comfortably while sipping a cup of coffee. I think we both felt refreshed, so the delay in our departure from Greystones wasn't so bad. We were heading to Galway, which is as opposite from Dublin as we could be, straight west coast. On our way we were planning a stop at New Grange, the site that is actually older than the pyramids at Giza, chalk one up for the Emerald Isle on that one! After driving on roads the width of American sidewalks and going up and down hills like American rollercoasters we finally arrived at the tourist center of New Grange. It is a site that if you were completely ignorant of its history would, quite frankly, be a little boring. But with some enlightenment from our very Irish tour guide, Rory, we grew to appreciate the incredible complexity of the site. New Grange is over five thousand years old and it is believed to be either a tomb or a temple having a very special regard for the sun. That's right, back in the day the people didn't have weather forecasters telling us (or should I say guessing) what the weather will be like tomorrow. With the absence of these invaluable persons, they were pretty much crossing their fingers every fall that come springtime, the sun would actually show up again and give them all of the life-giving type things that the sun gives. So this temple was designed in such an incredibly precise way that every year during the five days of the Winter Solstice a steady stream of light, shining for 17 minutes around nine in the morning, pierces the otherwise black darkness of the inside of New Grange. With this information, and a slightly claustrophobic and startling moment of darkness inside the tomb, we were able to better understand the neolithic people as well as better appreciate the mathematical-type precision with which they built this structure.

We arrived in Galway around nine o'clock, after more of those grrrreat roads I mentioned, and were greeted by our incredibly gracious and kind host, Theresa. We took a small walk down the street and decided we had had enough for the day. Waking at the earliest hour since our horrendous 3:45 in Norway, we rolled out of bed around eight this morning and scarffed down some of Theresa's incredible breakfast. Our sights were set on the Aran Islands, a picturesque place, practically untouched by time and the only remaining place in the world where old Gaelic Irish is still spoken. After a bus ride and just under an hour on a ferry, we rented bikes and wandered all across the island of Inish Mor. The landscape was unique. Stone fences, dividing up plots of land like a broken and tattered checkerboard, lined the roads as well, guiding us up through the hills towards the highest point around. The cliffs from that site were incredible, over 30 stories high, and the kind of place you don't want to be if a stiff wind were to come. We took tons of pictures and turned back, coasting down the hills, sometimes quivering in our bike seats, fearing for our lives as the tour buses twice as big as the roads seemed to accelerate towards us. Anyway, we made it back into Galway and had an incredibly Irish meal at the local Supermac's (you may think that sounds a bit like a fast food joint and you might be right). Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow, but somewhere on the list: saving some $$$! This exchange rate is brutal! Nighty, night then...