The Adventures of R+1 and The Princess

Bru na Boinne is an area in County Meath, Ireland, located in a bend of the River Boyne. It contains one of the world's most important prehistoric landscapes dating from the Neolithic period, including the large Megalithic passage graves of Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth as well as some 90 additional monuments. The archaeological culture associated with these sites is called the "Boyne culture". Since 1993, the site has been a World Heritage Site, and it has fascinated me for about 20 years. Today we went there. The site is a complex of Neolithic mounds, chamber tombs, standing stones, henges and other prehistoric enclosures, some from as early as 35th century BC - 32nd century BC. The site thus predates the Egyptian pyramids and was built with sophistication and a knowledge of science and astronomy, which is most evident in the passage grave of Newgrange. We went first to Knowth Knowth has a great many enigmatic carved curbstones surrounding it and also internally. ...

Well after a long anticipated wait for Covid-19 to recede, we have managed to finally get to Ireland. It was a brutal 24 hours but nothing a couple of days of taking it easy couldn't fix. We waited for an hour and 15 mins for our luggage to appear in the carousel, and had almost resigned ourselved to the loss, when the two suitcases appeared in the now deserted arrivals. Luckily our dear friends Mark and Zvia hadn't given up on us and were waiting at the gates. Since then we have been looked after brilliantly by our hosts. Malahide is a lovely little village just north of Dublin and Mark & Zvia's place is quite near the railway and a quick 15 minute ride into Dublin city. Malahide itself is a weekend holiday destination, a mecca for spanish students learning English, a retirement centre and lots more besides. Here's a picture of us in the main street just before gelato.... Mark & Zvia have been very generously ferrying us from place to place ...