Exploring the Megalithic Structures of Ireland

Ireland is an excellent destination if you want to see natural beauty, take some great pictures, and have a fabulous time. I took the Celtic tour there and had the most fantastic experience. I'm not fond of organized tours since some don't give you much freedom to explore the sites. However, Over the Top Tours was superb, and I'm glad I did it.

Our tour guide, Paul, was an amusing Irish man who believed in ghosts and nature spirits.

He told us many fascinating tales, legends, superstitions, and folklore.

He played music by The Cranberries and other Irish bands while he drove us around the ancient and mystical monuments.

I visited a few surviving structures from the Stone Age and medieval times, and Ireland is filled with them. One of the most recognizable megalithic structures is grass-covered mounds, which are 4000 to 5000 years old. Our first stop was the Valley of the Kings, the location of Fourknocks tomb.

It's a green-covered mound that looks like a hobbit home with a short passage leading into a chamber with three smaller offset chambers with stone carvings. This location has three grass-covered hills; only one is open to the public. Paul said the two represent the underworld and the present world, and the only one opened was four knocks, which means the next world. Legends say you could get a free pass to the next world if you go clockwise around the mound. (So I did!) He said it might not necessarily be heaven, but it could be the next dimension. Large stones surrounded the passage, and megalithic art was decorated inside the tomb. It has concentric circles, spirals, zigzags, pyramids, and images interpreted as the moon, the sun, and the human face. Paul said that the Celts believed in reincarnation, and the spirals symbolize the cycle of life. Most of their myths and legends deal with this journeying and movement through the experiences of life, death, and rebirth in the ever-changing directional flow of the spiral. The tour lasts a full day, so be prepared to do a lot of walking and exploring. I learned so much from this tour and will do it again.