While I usually avoid traveling to Europe during peak seasons, this time I am glad we went for it.  The week of St. Patty's Day just happened to be the most convenient time for my husband and I to meet up in Ireland with my daughter living in England.  To avoid the  madness we decided to skip Dublin and start out in Trim instead.  Fantastic move as it seemed we practically  had the entire  town to ourselves with the exception of at least three wedding parties taking glorious photos from our hotel perch which looked out onto the spectacular Trim Castle.

After all, what could be more romantic than a new bride and groom walking the grounds of the largest Norman castle in Europe and the largest of any castle in Ireland? For regular folk, not in a wedding party, tours are available.  Because the structure has been so well preserved, the original staircase takes you all the way to the top where you can have a royal view of the surrounding Boyne Valley.  No wonder the producers of Braveheart chose this as the filming location.  The locals are very proud of this by the way!

The River Boyne winds through the town and around the Castle.  At it's inception, the river provided a perfect delivery system of goods  to the castle inhabitants via boats.  Today the river is graced with about a 1.5 mile walking trail that not only leads around the castle grounds  but through grassy fields of grazing sheep and an abbey.  Occasional and ( superbly done I might add) historic markers highlight the history of the Boyne valley. Local joggers, walkers, and families frequent the trail.  As night falls you can take this trail to a local pub for some trad music...or you could drive if you are not up for a dark walk in a strange town! 

We loved Trim so much we decided to stay a second night.  On day two we ventured out to Bective  Abbey.  With a metal pole set at about 6 feet going across the entrance only sedans can enter. Again...we had the place to ourselves.  We felt like school children in a fantasy that was real.  With so much still intact, it was not hard to imagine monks walking the cloisters,  praying, chanting  and living there.

Our last stop  was the Hill of Tara, the touted spiritual and/or political site starting from the neolithic era.  It is thought to be the seat of the High Kings of Ireland .  Our newly found friends native to  Cork, return often to the Hill of Tara as a spiritual retreat.   Interestingly enough, others find it a great open grassy field to play on.  Unlike the many other neolithic sites it is wide open and you are free to roam  the grass covered ruins.  Being on the hill   does remind you of what it means to be truly Irish!