Fore Abbey is a 7th century abbey spread across the valley of ancient structures. The abbey complex…read moreincludes several notable features, such as the remains of the Benedictine monastery, St. Feichin's church, and the famous Fore Crosses. There are several ruins to explore on this stop.

For a ruin, this place was really in good shape. Most here are a pile of rocks that vaguely…read moreresembles a building. This one had rooms and working stairs. If you go, there is a big parking lot on the main road. You don't have to park on the street.

It's really cool place to visit. The place is a Cistercian abbey on the River Boyne in Bective,…read moreCounty Meath, Ireland. The abbey was founded around 1147. Is in ruins but some areas are really well preserved. It is very quiet, the 5 times I've been there I think I've seen 10 people and That was too many haha! So it's very relaxing and inspiring. I always take my dog, so he can run all over the place. It is good that is very clean and well cared. It's great location for photographs.

The Hill of Tara has been important since the late Stone Age, when a passage tomb was built there…read more However, the site became truly significant in the Iron Age (600 BC to 400 AD) and into the Early Christian Period when it rose to supreme prominence - as the seat of the high kings of Ireland. All old Irish roads lead to this critical site. St Patrick himself went there in the fifth century. As Christianity achieved dominance over the following centuries, Tara's importance became symbolic. Its halls and palaces have now disappeared and only earthworks remain. On sight to see is the Lia Fáil - the great coronation stone. Gayle and I came here on a bus tour and spent maybe an hour or so on site. Our tour guide (Mary Gibbons) was superb, with lots of information and dry humor provided. Judging by the Irish Goddess calendar made and sold here, this area remains a place of spiritual opportunity.

We visited Hill of Tara with Mary Gibbons tour and it was spectacular on a clear day. Views for…read moremiles. Amazing history. A just a very powerful experience overall. Highly recommend.

This priory was founded in the early 13th century for the Crutched or Crossed Friars of the Order…read moreof John the Baptist. This monastery was built on the southern bank of the Boyne just across St. peters Bridge from the Victorine Friary.

We visited Knowth as part of Mary Gibbons tour to Newgrange and Hill of Tara in July/Aug 2025 and I…read morereally enjoyed it. Our guide was lovely and gave us a very in-depth history of the site, as well as plenty of time to take photos and ask questions. It was fascinating. No, you cannot go inside any of the chambers here but it's still super cool. I would totally visit again.

Knowth is a poor man's Newgrange. Just like Newgrange, it's a 5000 year old passage tomb. In…read morefact, it has way more ancient stone artwork than Newgrange. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing it has on Newgrange. Newgrange looks cooler, plus you actually get to go inside to the passage chamber. At Knowth, they only let you into the entrance, and then a small room off to the side where they just give you some history. The actual chamber is blocked off and you don't get to go to it. The tour itself was good enough. A guide takes you through the history of the site, then walks you into the small room near the entrance. After that you're free to wander around the grounds, including a pathway up to the top of the tomb. Overall it was interesting (especially because of all the artwork) but just doesn't hold a candle to Newgrange. If you're going to one, though, you might as well go to both.

Absolutely fascinating, powerful, and educational. I believe you can just arrange a visit yourself…read moreif you're driving but we weren't so we took Mary's tour here (and to Knowth and Hill of Tara). Mary herself is an incredible source of knowledge so the ride up and back was full of cool information. The bus trip was easy and comfortable though just an fyi there are no restrooms on board. Once we arrived our small group had a reasonable amount of time to spend walking through the visitors center and learning more about the tombs and history before hopping another short shuttle ride to Knowth first. The guide at Knowth was very helpful, thorough and interesting. You can't enter these tombs but I really enjoyed walking around the site and taking it all in. There's plenty to see and some beautiful views on a clear day. The visitors center is very well done... don't miss it. I almost wished we had just a little more time, like 15 minutes, to be honest. It's chock full of information. There are restrooms and they have a small gift shop and there won't be an opportunity to return (at least if you're on Mary's tour there won't be) so if you'd like a keepsake be sure to purchase it first. After Knowth it's back on the shuttle and out to Newgrange itself where small groups can go in with one of the very helpful and friendly guides. I thought for sure I would get claustrophobic but I had no trouble at all. All in all it was absolutely mesmerizing. 10000/10000 would go again.

So the way that I travel, I like to rent a car and just drive around with my partner. The best way…read moreto experience a new country is just to live like everybody there. So as we were driving along, we found this beautiful park drove into and really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. There's a beautiful walkway that takes you down to this building. As we open the doors, there's a greeter and I asked her a little bit about what this whole experiences and she didn't really have much information to give me. So I said why not let's go ahead and see what we got ourselves into. There is a beautiful museum and there is a beautiful café with lots of different treats and sandwiches and entrées. There's also a gift shop that has really great gifts that you could give to family and friends a couple of the items we got were a wishing Stone and a worry stone. The experience did not stop there, you have to walk down this beautiful pathway where everything is green and luscious and you get to a bus stop. The bus comes and takes you down this roadway that leads you to what we found out was a tomb. It was a surprise to us that we found out that this tomb was actually one of the oldest tombs in the world, even older than the Egyptians. As we get to the property, we see a beautiful architectural, severe round building with one little small entrance. The entrance to the tomb is narrow but a large man can still fit through it to see the experience. As we come to find out, it was a tomb, possibly from a rich family and Ireland that controlled most of the land. The family had incest to keep the power within. All of these are possibilities they do not know because of how old this is. Once in the tomb, you get to see that there are three burial plots, and there's a light experience to show that once a year the sun hits a certain way and lightslights the tomb up for a period of time. After you're done with that, you get back on the bus and they take you back to the museum area where you can go ahead and have lunch or you can be done with experience altogether. This all lasted maybe an hour or two and really gave us something to do when we did not have anything planned. This whole experience cost us about $26 and was pretty nice and learned something new that I did not know before.

Beautiful Harbour where you can watch the local seals catch fish which they eat off their bellies…read morebelow within the quiet harbour waters, while the fishermen look on, catch less! The harbour wall is great protection from the prevailing wind. There's a free car park and a coastal walk that takes you over to Clogherhead beach, and lovely places to sit and watch the sea on the black rocks behind the harbour. The public toilets aren't the best (no lock, no seat, stinky brown smeared door - but at least they had paper and a sink!) There is a fish shop here but we didn't buy anything as we were out for the day and the weather was too warm.

Carlingford is currently the home of President Joe Biden's Irish cousins. Great people. Just 8…read moremiles away. Carlingford is also a fine example of a medieval walled town, built at the time of the Normans in the 12th century. The Vikings had invaded Ireland in the 9th Century and historical records establish that they occupied Carlingford Lough. The name Carlingford is Scandinavian translating into 'Fjord of Carlinn'. The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169 as allies of Irish King Dermot MacMurrough. By 1184 they had reached Carlingford. A Norman Knight, Sir John de Courcy claimed this part of Louth for himself. Sir John was a busy beggar. He arrived in Ireland in 1176 and by the time of his expulsion in 1204, he had conquered considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for the Benedictines (yes the monks that created champagne and benedictine), the Cistercians and he also built strongholds at Dundrum Castle in County Down and at Carrickfergus Castle in County Antrim. The very first historical reference to Carlingford dates to 1184 when Sir John gave the rights of the ferry at Carlingford to the Abbot of Downpatrick indicating that the harbour was in use as a ferry point. However, the town of Carlingford only developed after the castle known as King John's Castle was built. The castle today is a ruin, but it's still obvious what it was nearly a thousand years ago - a place of defence. As for its creator Sir John De Courcy, well he returned to Ireland, sailing across the Irish sea from the Isle of Man in July 1205 with Norse soldiers and a hundred boats. John and his army landed at Strangford and laid siege to Dundrum Castle in vain, because the defences he himself had made were too strong. King John then had John de Courcy imprisoned and he spent the rest of his life in poverty so the clerics he was so generous toward left him broke. He was subsequently released when he "crossed himself" to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. De Courcy died in obscurity just outside what is now Craigavon - I suppose anyone who dies there still departs in obscurity as the best thing about Craigavon, even a thousand years later, is still the road out of it.

As you drive into Carlingford King John's Castle sets the scene for the magnificent historical…read morevalue of this town. The views from the ledge are amazing and worth the bit of climbing to get up to it! Transports you back in time as you see all the way over to Warrenpoint and soak up the atmosphere from days gone by. Look out for the plaques dotted around to learn more!