Sabbatikos

In May of 2023 we took a trip to Ireland. Tawny and I preceded our daughter Clara and her boyfriend Ian by a few days. We spent that time exploring Dublin (blog posts to come). When Clara and Ian joined us, we took a day trip to Northern Ireland to visit The Game of Thrones Studios for a tour. If you are a fan of GOT, then I highly recommend the experience!

You must book reservations for GOT Studios in advance. We picked up our rental car in Dublin and gave ourselves plenty of time since I’d be driving on the “wrong-side” of the road. Along the way we decided to make a quick stop at a megalithic passage tomb called Knowth. What we didn’t know is Knowth also requires advanced reservations to limit daily visitors. While they didn’t have any openings for us that morning, they did have openings in the afternoon. We booked a reservation to visit the site at 4:00 PM on our return drive from GOT Studios to Dublin.

On our way to Northern Ireland we had time to stop at nearby Monasterboice, location of the oldest and largest Celtic High Crosses in Ireland. It was an introspective and contemplative walk around an old cemetery and monastery tower dating from the 5th century.

While worn by weather over time, you could see designs patterns on these crosses that still influence iconic Irish culture today.

We were under time constraints to get to GOT Studios for our reservation, but also to ensure we arrived a bit early so we’d have plenty of time to return to Knowth for our afternoon tour. It turns out you can’t drive directly to GOT Studios, but must drive to a nearby outlet mall to park and catch a bus to the studios. We didn’t understand this (even though the instructions were in English) and missed the exit for this mall a few times, having to double back. While running a little bit late, we were able to get to our bus and our tour reservation in time.

The GOT Studio tour (mostly self-guided) is excellent. They limit the number of visitors going through the studio at any one time, so you can have an intimate experience with all the studios sets, costumes, and iconic props from the award-winning show.

You are not allowed to film the start of the tour, and you are sworn to secrecy from even talking about it. But suffice it to say, the opening scene and grand entrance you make into GOT Studios is as epic as the series itself! Once inside you are able to explore countless props, sets, costumes, and exhibits on how the special effects and production design were done. It was an afternoon well spent for us four GOT-Geeks.

Costumes:

Props:

Sets:

From GOT Studios we made our way back into Ireland and to Knowth (the megalithic passage tomb) for our afternoon tour. We had to cross the beautiful and graceful River Boyne as we made our way to the bus which would take us the to the top of the hill where the passage tomb sat.

We had the last tour of the day, and we were warned several times that if we missed the bus back to the Brú na Bóinne visitor center we’ve have to walk the 5k or so back. Apparently the buses in Ireland are very punctual!

We arrived at the top of the hill with sweeping views over the lush and green Boyne Valley below. We were surprised to learn that Knowth dates from the Neolithic era (3200 BC) making it over 5,000 years old. It predates Stonehenge and the Egyptian Pyramids by a few hundred years!

As we approached we could see the ornate kerbstones surrounding the tomb decorated with a wide variety of carvings and patterns. Apparently, a third of all known neolithic art in Western Europe is at Knowth! This was the first time we were seeing these symbols in Ireland, but it wasn’t the last. As our trip continued we saw these same symbols incorporated into signs, jewelry, and artwork across the country. It is amazing to consider that carvings made by neolithic people in prehistoric times would continue to endure and influence the art, design, and pride of a nation thousands of years later.