So Long, Ireland!

Our flight back home wasn't until the afternoon so Matt and I decided not to waste any time and we chose to fit in one last stop before heading to the airport.  We went back and forth with where to go, but we ultimately decided on Monasterboice.  It was a bit unique to the area, we had already seen so many castles and we thought since it was self-guided we could take as little or as much time as we wanted.

Round tower and High Cross

Ireland loves itself some high crosses and round towers.  They were everywhere!  But the high crosses as this cemetery were so pretty.  This cemetery was a mix of old and new graves and ended up being quite the tourist spot.  Shortly after we arrived two big tour buses arrived and several groups started walking around.  Luckily, we got there just in time to get some good pictures without too many people getting in the way.

Leaning Tower of Pisa - just kidding!  I took a crooked picture.

Muiredach's Cross - this particular high cross - was the main attraction to the cemetery.  It depicts Bible stories on both sides.  The reason for this was to educate those who were unable to read.  This cross was essentially a picture book on a cross to help the illiterate learn and know the main stories of the Bible.  It's amazing how clear the pictures still are and how easy it was to decipher what story was being conveyed.  Considering it was carved in the 10th century, the craftsmanship is amazing.

 Can you figure out what stories these two scenes are?  Yup!  Adam and Eve on the left.  Cain and Abel on the right.

What about this one?  Moses smiting the rock to obtain water for the Israelites.

Some of the other stories shown were the last judgment, the crucifixion, David and Goliath and the Three Wise Men.  Altogether, twelve stories were shown.

Just as we were about to leave, I happened to looked down and guess what I saw - clover!  I hadn't seen any the entire trip and was so glad to be able to see it while we were on our way out of Ireland.

We went to the airport after leaving Monasterboice and dropped off our Skoda.  It was a good car to put up with Matt's terrible shifting.  For being such a small car, we had plenty of room and it did a great job getting us from Point A to Point B.

The look of relief that he doesn't have to driving a stick anymore.

We had an amazing vacation and we both agree we'd go back to Ireland in a heartbeat.  There are places we'd like to spend more time and places we'd like to go to that we weren't able to on this trip.  We had no idea what was in store for us when we got back home, but we are so glad we scheduled our vacation for when we did and came home refreshed.