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Province Leinster
Province Leinster in the east is historical a very important province. By travelling through Leinster you are actually travelling through ancient Irish history.
Starting at the Neolithic structures from Newgrange and Knowth in the Boyne Valley you travel via the Hill of Slane and Hill of Tara, the religious and royal centre of ancient and mediaeval Ireland, before you continue to Mellifont Abbey.
These attractions are all situated north of Dublin and if you are visiting Ireland for the first time you can practise your left-side-driving skills and familiarise yourself with the Irish road conditions with the Boyne Drive. This drive is excellently signposted and will take you to all attractions of the Boyne Valley.
At the west and south of Dublin you will visit the monastic site of Clonmacnoise and the Wicklow Mountains.
Once you are in Leinster it is virtually impossible to ignore the temptations of Dublin City. Dublin, started as a Viking stronghold, was once the centre of the Pale, an Anglo-Norman enclave in Celtic Ireland. Nowadays the city is the pounding capital of the Republic of Ireland.
The major business and industrial centres Dublin and Dundalk the region attracts many people and activities from the countryside. As a result most surrounding villages are a bit desolated and candidly speaking quite dull. You might take this into account when searching a nice place to dine or stay. Probably you are better off when continuing your trip a larger city.
We promised to share bits of trivial information. Well, here is one:
In the days of the Five Kingdoms the Kingdom of Leinster was substantial smaller as the province is today. Just north from the centre of modern day Leinster was the lost province, the Kingdom of Míde, located, while Ulster stretched more to the south.