• Ireland’s Ancient East: Learn how Christian Ireland became a European bastion of learning and knowledge, how Ireland’s most cherished book stayed out of the hands of Vikings, and how the Normans, like other invaders, eventually became “more Irish than the Irish themselves.”

Visits include:

• Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, built by a Viking, updated by Normans, and a site of Christian worship for centuries.

• Dublin Castle, the seat of power for Ireland’s occupiers since medieval times.

• The National Museum: Archaeology, where the Glendalough Room ushers you into the Dark Ages of Europe when the Irish saved civilization. The story of Celtic Ireland glimmers in Bronze Age jewelry of hammered gold. Ireland’s bog bodies whisper a darker narrative in the “Kingship and Sacrifice exhibit; the violent death of these ancient aristocrats remain a mystery.

• The Book of Kells, in Trinity College, is Ireland’s most beloved treasure; here, you’ll witness the scriptures brought to life as a vision of natural beauty and wonder. Visitors can also experience the Book of Kells and the monastic golden age in a new digital exhibit that reimagines the making of this biblical masterpiece.

• Glendalough monastic site, Co. Wicklow, is one of Ireland’s most sacred sites; here, St. Kevin and his followers kept the Christian flame burning as the Dark Ages descended on Europe.

• The Boyne Valley Drive, Counties Meath and Louth, encompassing the Hill of Tara, Monasterboice monastic site, Melifont Abbey, Kells, Bective Abbey, the UNESCO World Heritage site of Newgrange, and the historic town of Drogheda. This day-long tour transports you through several millennia of Irish history, from Neolithic Times Ages to the Battle of the Boyne, the source of Northern Ireland’s recent Troubles.

• Waterford Treasures Walking Tour, including the Irish Wake Museum, where one of the great Irish traditions is keenly celebrated.

• Ardmore, Co. Waterford, site of the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland.

Outstanding Experience:

Brú na Bóinne (Palace of the Boyne)

One of Europe’s richest archaeological landscapes reveals the story of prehistoric Ireland. More than 150 Neolithic monuments include passage tombs that take us back to ancient Irish realms of astrology, art, and engineering.