Howth in the Distance, Sandycove, Co. Dublin, Ireland

The High Lake, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

St. Kevin’s Church, Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

So, yesterday was an absolute grand time. I did something really touristy for the first time all summer and took a bus tour. I would have prefered not to, but they are the easiest way to get out and see something when you dont have a car or anything like that and wouldn’t know where you were going in the first place.

So, I was picked up at the DART (Dublin’s local train system) station in Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dunn Leery). But first, since I’ve told a few people about how nice the view is from my local Booterstown Ave. DART station, here is a pano that I took yesterday morning, just to rub it in.

The following is a description of the goings on starting here: http://renstar.smugmug.com/gallery/1479791/23

and ending here: http://renstar.smugmug.com/gallery/1479791/47. As usual, the better shots will follow in later posts (that is, when I have time).
After getting on the tour bus, we took a very short drive down to Sandy Cove, which is not far south of Dun Laoghaire. This is famous because of its Martello tower. The Martello towers were built around the east and south of Ireland to keep watch for Napoleon’s invasion force. (An invasion was threatened, but instead he went to Russia.. and we know the result of that). This particular tower is famous because James Joyce spent a week there (or something like that). Every seat he ever sat on and stone he stepped on seems to be famous here.

After only a few minutes there, we drove up to the Avoca Handweavers shop, which was a real waste of time for me. It was really a coffee stop for those that got on the bus at 8 or 9 (i wasnt picked up until 10).

After this, we went to the highlight of the tour, a stop in Glendalough (pro. Glenn-da-lock). Glendalough is an Irish Christian Monastic City that has the ruins of seven different churches, all dating back to somewhere around the 6th Century. The entrance is a famous double archway. This monastic city has a huge old grave yard (and I do mean old). Some of the gravestones are from the 17 and 1800′s. Others cant even be read at this point. In one case, the path even goes straight over one. It also has one of the two remaining round towers left in Ireland, which are apparantly the only native architecture. Also, interesting fact, all the buildings are built with no mortar (except the tower). The most famous of the churches, and the only one with its roof remaining, is St. Kevin’s Church. The roof is actually the original roof (from what I recall). Also, it is accoustically designed so that chants and prayers echo throughout the surrounding valley.

Glendalough means the Valley of Two Lakes and as such, there are two lakes. I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to explore, but thats more for another visit. There are things to see like St. Kevin’s prayer cell, but I didnt get to see them. I did, however, hike up to the High Lake, which is absolutely breathtaking. I have some really nice shots of this that I will put up later, but some simple ones can be seen in the linked gallery. The only problem is, at this time of year there are lots of tourists about so it is hard to take in the tranquility that made this such a spiritual site. I’d like to see it sometime, maybe at 6am or so when no one is there.

After a hike back and lunch, we drove high up in to the Wicklow Mountains. OK, so, not so high, only a few thousand feet, but still, the roads were very windy and dangerous, so I highly admire the tourguide’s driving ability, maneuvering the bus up there. The scenery is abslutely beautiful. I can’t believe such places exist on the earth. The whole area is mountain bog, and some people still harvest the bog as fire fuel, but for the most part it has been left untouched.

We stopped at a cliff over a bog lake on land owned by the Guinness family. Incidently, the lake looks like a giant pint of Guinness. It as really a shame that we only stopped for 15 minutes or so, I could have taken that in, and hiked through it for hours. Again, some very spectacular shots to come.

Finally, we made the drive back, though, we took high mountain roads which are very windy. And saw some more wonderful sites. We didnt stop though, so no pictures.

The whole tour was an Irish history lesson as well, I learned alot about the early Celts and how the current Troubles are intricately related to the history of the island, going back to the 1600′s and further. It really was a fascinating trip, and for only 25 euros was definitely worth it.

Hopefully next weekend I’ll be heading somewhere else, perhaps Belfast, perhaps Galway, Clare, or Connemara, we shall see.

Here’s a couple from the weekend at Rindoon Castle, Co. Roscommon, Ireland… more to come…