Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre

The Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre was surprisingly one of the more fun activities we did during our stay in Ireland. To start your tour, you watch a short video giving the history of the castle and region, which is very informative.

After that, you will be entertained by the different actors who portray characters who would have lived in this style castle several hundreds of years ago. The actors, varying from a hunter to the lady of the house, bring the history to life and do a good job of getting the guests involved, from showing us how to use a bow to putting us in the stocks.

The tour lasted for about an hour, and all of us enjoyed it thoroughly. If you're in Dalkey (which is right outside the main part of Dublin), it is definitely worth a visit.

Hill of Tara

Of the ancient sites we went to in Ireland in County Meath, the Hill of Tara was probably the most underwhelming and overwhelming of the sites.

Heading up the walk to the hill, there is an aerial picture of the Hill of Tara and information about the natural landscape. However, as we walked up the path to the Hill, we realized quickly that from the ground you would not be able to fully appreciate the landscape and the concentric circles that are a natural feature of the land, from the ground.

The best view of the area from the ground is from the center of the closer circle (the one in the front in the picture above) as it is the highest point.

Warning: The walk up the path and at the site itself during our visit was covered with animal droppings, so expect to walk gingerly.