Day 6- Mysteries, Crypts, and Cathedrals (LOTS OF PICTURES!)

My group! :-) 

Hey folks!

WOW!!! ***SO MUCH*** has happened today! Today I really saw Ireland's beauty and fell more in love with this place. 

Navan

We began the day by taking an hour drive over to Navan. Navan, to the naked eye, looks like a giant, green, grassy hill. However, like many things in Ireland, you need to look beneath the surface. 

Beneath the giant mound is actually a temple, which was built around 95 B.C.! The mystery of the mound is that no one knows why the temple was built. Even more funky: The temple was completely filled with stones from around the world (not a single stone is native to Ireland). And then, for some reason, the ancient people ceremoniously burnt the temple and then buried it beneath the mound. Weird, right? EVEN WEIRDER: All the major  Irish myths have some connection to this place. All of the great Irish warriors were from here. It's so mysterious, but yet so cool. However, the best part of the hike up to this mound, called Navan, was the views. These pictures do not do these views justice. I love fields, so this was heaven for me. I wanted to plop myself down right in the middle: 



And what do you do when there are a bunch of big hills? Roll down them of course!

Here's some better pictures of the actual mound:

On the way down, we saw a fairy tree. Local people still believe that the "fairy folk" inhibit this tree. If you leave your wishes, they'll help you get them:

 

We also had lunch and tea. Man, I'm really beginning to love tea :-) 

There were also some cool road signs:

This sign means pedestrians

This is a warning sign for the "bowling game" its a popular version of bowling that local people play on dirt roads

We then went to a reenactment of the old settlements which would have been around 95BC-200AD. SUPER COOL. I learned a cool fact: The vast majority of people who have a gluten allergy have some form of Irish heritage. Since the wheat crop was not introduced to Ireland until around 1000AD many Irish and descendants have not developed a gluten tolerance. 

Churches & Crypts 

 This place was also St. Patrick's stomping ground so both the major Catholic and Protestant Church are named St. Patrick's church. We went to the protestant church first. It was beautiful and there were crypts beneath the church. 

 Outside the crypt: 

Me and my friend Luke

Then we went over to the Catholic church with the same name:

First Accident

There's this really weird plant in Ireland. It grows on the sides of roads everywhere and it kind of looks like milkweed. However, it has microscopic thorns/prickers. So, if you touch it, hundreds go into your body but they're so small you can't get them out. Well, I went to pick a flower today on the side of the road and  touched one by accident. OUCH! My thumb has now been hurting all day.