June 15^th, 2012

Day 26: Navan, Dublin & Bray (Co. Wicklow), Ireland

Riona and I woke up and had a quick breakfast this morning. She had to run out to do some errands and I took a shower and packed up all of my things! Once she was back, we headed back into Navan to pick up her friend Tessa (from Australia) who she had studied with in France.

Once we had Tessa, we went to the same sandwich place I visited last time I was in Navan right near the Hill of Tara. And it was still absolutely delicious! The three of us then walked to the actual Hill of Tara for a bit of a look around. Riona bought a 50c brochure with some information on it to supplement her knowledge of the area (Sorry Riona, I don’t think you have a future as a tour guide in Navan!) and we went along!

The Hill of Tara is a historical site in Ireland that’s thought to be the site of many of the King’s ceremonies and rituals, and possibly even the seat of the High King of Ireland. There’s a lot more history I just read about on Wikipedia as well and I invite you to do the same! The tour guide lady we met at the front gates told us that from this point, you can see 1/5 of the country as well- was quite a site! One more thing we went to on the hill was a faerie tree, where people can hang their worries and they will be taken care of.

Some of the view!

Reunited! <3

The faerie tree!

We also went to the Stone of Destiny on the hill and Riona had Tessa and I hop around the stone 3 times with our eyes closed and making a wish- apparently something first time visitors are meant to do. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t just to make us look silly!

 Jumping around the Stone of Destiny!

After falling up the hill, seeing 1/5 of the country, hopping around on one foot a bit and taking some great photos, we headed back to the car and into town for me to say my goodbyes L I got on a bus headed to Dublin and said goodbye to Riona and Tessa!

Once in Dublin, I hopped right on the DART out to Bray to see Daragh! A 40 minute ride later and I was there J It was fantastic to see him!

We settled in back at his house for a bit, he showed me my room, wehad some tea and decided what we’d do for the night!  We took advantage of the pseudo-nice weather and drove into the Wicklow Mountains to a spot where you could see Arthur Guinness’ house. The estate was gorgeous, situated in a valley between mountains with its own lake!

Arthur Guinness' grounds!

Afterwards, we went to The Porterhouse for some dinner and drinks. I’m a big fan of the Porterhouse in Dublin and it was cool to see another one down in Bray. I had a delicious pizza and some pints, and then we headed back to Daragh’s house. We had a few glasses of wine with his mom  & just chatted a bit, and then went to sleep! A great day of meeting up with old friends J

Favorite part of the day: The Hill of Tara was actually really cool & seeing Daragh was another high point! J