Newgrange!
For my birthday, Nick organized a tour for us to go out to Newgrange, the 5,000+ year-old monument that served as a tomb during the Neolithic. The coveted blue sky was shining in all its brilliance that day, adding to the splendor.
There is a long, low, and extremely narrow hallway that leads to the center of the dome. It is completely dark inside except for a few precious moments of sunlight on several days throughout the year, most famously the Winter Solstice, in which case the sun casts fleeting rays of illumination into the chamber before once again casting it into utter darkness. It is believed that the sun was associated with ushering the souls of the dead into the afterlife, hence the alignment of the tomb's entrance with the morning light.
This is the entrance stone that stands before the opening of the tomb. While stairs now surround either side of the stone, thus making it easier for tourists to enter the monument, in its heyday people would have to leap over the boulder, which stand about 4.5 ft high.
A random pathway near the monument, surrounded by trellises.
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