Neolithic Art and the Giants Causeway
Bru na Boinne
It’s dark when we leave Galway at 6:30am. The morning is foggy as the sun rises brightly, but I’m not going to be fooled by the fickle Irish weather…in five minutes it can be a totally different story.
We have a 2.5 hour drive to reach the Bru na Boinne UNESCO World Heritage Site (also known 
as Newgrange) where we have a 9:30am time slot for a tour.
The site has three Neolithic passage tombs that are older than Stonehenge or the pyramids. We visit two of the sites, Newgrange and Knowth. The site was build around 3200 BC. The bodies of the dead were cremated and the ashes placed 
inside the tombs. However some unburned pieces of bone were recovered in excavations which allowed carbon dating and DNA analysis tracing the origin of the inhabitants to present day Turkey.
The site is the largest concentration of Neolithic art in western Europe.
Newgrange is aligned with the winter solstice. On December 21 the rising sun illuminates the inside of the main chamber.
Knowth is the largest tomb and is encircled with large rocks or kerbstones covered in Neolithic art. Some of the carvings represent astrological motifs. They may have the earliest know representation of the lunar cycle.
On the Road to Northern Ireland
After our tour we hop into the car for the 2.5 hour ride to The Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland. The countryside before we reach the highway is lovely. There is no sign indicating we crossed the border between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland). The only difference is that the speed and distance signs change from kilometers to miles
The Giants Causeway
It is pouring when we are five minutes away from the Giants Causeway, the rain stops. We definitely have the luck of the Irish with us today.
We hike down and explore these natural columns of rock. They look manmade.
The scenery is gorgeous. We hike up and up the cliff for more gorgeous views from the top.
Night Out
We check into our Airbnb and then go into the nearby town of Portrush for supper and a Guinness. Afterwards we go to another nearby seaside town called Portbalintrae. Our Airbnb host told us they were having Halloween fireworks so we watched a small kids costume parade along the waterfront followed by an impressive fireworks display.