Céide Fields

Frommer's Review

In a breathtaking setting, above huge chalk cliffs that plunge hundreds of feet down into a deep blue sea, ancient people once lived, worked, and buried their dead -- a fact that nobody knew until the 1930s, when a local farmer named Patrick Caulfield noticed stones piled in strange patterns in his fields. More than 40 years later, his son Seamus, by then an archaeologist, explored his father's discovery (he became a scientist in part because he wanted to understand the stones he'd played among as a child). Under the turf, he found Stone Age fields, megalithic tombs, and the foundations of a village. Standing amid it now, you can see a pattern of farm fields as they were laid out 5,000 years ago (predating the construction of the Egyptian pyramids). Preserved for millennia beneath the bog, the site is both fascinating and inscrutable, as, to a casual observer, it's all little more than piles of stones, but the visitor center makes it meaningful in a series of displays, films, and tours. The pyramid-shaped center itself is designed to fit in with the dramatic surroundings -- you can see the building for miles. It also contains a cafeteria, which comes as a relief since this site is 20 hilly, rocky kilometers (12 miles) of winding roads from anywhere.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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