Newgrange - County Meath - Ireland

This is from our trip to Ireland in 2014. On our last full day, we decided to take a tour from Dublin to this 5,000 year old large circular mound surrounded by stones. The fact that this thing was built before the pyramids, and before Stonehenge, really is what entieced us to go. What is cool about Newgrange besides how old it is? It was apparently built to welcome the new year at the Winter Solstice. According to the tour information, every year (when the sun is not blocked by clouds, of course):

At dawn, from December 19th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light penetrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber, gradually extending to the rear of the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. This event lasts for 17 minutes, beginning around 9am.

They have a free lottery every year, where a small number of people are chosen to be able to experience this event.  We got to go inside and check it out, and they have a simulation of the light inside the chamber, so it was very cool to see.

Newgrange can be found in the Boyne Valley of County Meath, about an hour's drive from Dublin.