Excursion from Dublin

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On Wednesday, we decided to go out of the Dublin area and see the countryside. I had read a lot about a monastery called Glendalough that was founded by St. Kevin in the 7th Century. At one point, it was one of the major religious centers in Ireland. We paid 20 Euros to take a bus out to the site and got to spend 3.5 hours there.

It was easily a place that I could spend a few days in. It lies in part of the Wicklow Mountains in a national park south of Dublin. Glendalough is one of the most beautiful places that I have been to. Ireland is entirely too beautiful to seem like a real place. It is entirely mythical with fairy tale creatures. I would love to spend days hiking around this area.

The first things we saw when we entered Glendalough were ancient buildings. The most prominent feature is the Round Tower, which is a thirty meter high tower used for storage and safety in times of attack. There are 7 churches and many other buildings that all date from the 12th Century or before. It was incredible to be looking at buildings that were 900 years old or more.

Aside from all of the ancient structures, the monastery is built near two lakes in the Wicklow Mountains. The countryside is absolutely spectacular. There are hills and waterfalls and the mountains can be hiked for miles. There are also ancient churches spread out throughout the site.

We walked around for a long time but then began to get hungry and it started to rain. We grabbed some food and some conversation with people sitting next to us. They were all extremely friendly Irish people and one of the women lived in Oklahoma City near Tinker Air Force Base. They were incredibly animated and passionate about Ireland. It is so easy to see why there are so many proud Irish people, and it made me wish that I was staying in Ireland longer and not going to Ormskirk for school.

After lunch, we wandered around the area a bit more and then boarded the bus to go back to Dublin. We had dinner and spent a quiet evening in the hotel and recovered from our trip so far. Sleeping is definitely important while you are away. It feels like you are wasting time when you could be out seeing things, but if you are exhausted then you really don’t care what you are looking at, so we enjoyed a quiet night in.

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