Celtic Odyssey: The Gardens of Ireland

Today we decided to go on a bus trip of Glendalough (pronounced Glendalock), Wicklow and Kilkenny. When we arrived in Glendalough, we first went to the upper of the two lakes there. In fact, you’ve been looking at one of the lakes as the background of this blog. The lake, obviously, is gorgeous and the weather was actually cooperating (at least for this part of the journey). We then walked through the woods on our way around the lower lake to the old monastic village. A few things: I really love moss – on trees, on rocks, sunlight coming through moss or tree branches. Well, this whole wood was like that. To the left of the path was a bog, because the two lakes used to be just one lake, but then the middle part got filled in with tree branches and what not and is now a bog that separates them.

Elizabeth, Kelsey, Me, Maddie, Brinda & Chipra

Me at the Upper Lake

Wicked Tree!

I love sunlight photos

pretty little waterfall

feels like the woods near Rivendell, maybe?

The Monastic village was one of the first and most influential ones of Ireland; in fact, it helped propel the Catholic faith throughout Europe and Ireland (apparently the Vikings became the people who were in the Crusades, so many of them would have visited this site). Years and years later, some people decided to start burying their dead here and so now it is mingled with a cemetery, some graves as recent as the 50s. Monasteries were identified by towers that were rounded and tapered so to avoid being blown over by the wind (which was really quite strong in this area). I found this little village quite peaceful; it was very beautiful and restful.

Monastic Village

Monastic Tower

Fallen over tombstones,

The ruins of the Church

The graves overlooking the valley with the lakes below

Ireland

Leaving the village

From there, we drove by some fields, where the events featured in Braveheart took place (it was actually filmed in a different location, but William Wallace lived there). Afterwards, we drove through to the Wicklow gap. Holy crap – I was about to be blown over by the wind! Essentially, the way the mountains are located, they create a wind tunnel that blows right over this gap, so it was obnoxiously windy. Then we headed on over to Kilkenny, passing many farms with lonely trees in the middle…(that’s right – fairy trees!)

What remains of William Wallace's house

Gap of Wicklow

Poppies, my pretty!

Fairy Tree

By the time we reached Kilkenny, the weather had stopped cooperating – it was very rainy. We were really hungry and found a pub to get food. We’d hoped it would be a fast meal but the Irish aren’t in a hurry so we ended up spending an hour there. Yeah, should be lesson one – never eat out when you’re on a schedule. So that meant we only had an hour to see Kilkenny castle and the gardens. The castle is one of the largest, and perhaps most elaborately furnished (though this is after reconstruction), castles in Ireland. It was quite gorgeous, but yet again no photos inside (really a bummer – I hate that so many places have this policy). Imagine huge rooms richly lavished with carpets, ornate curtains, detailed paintings, etc. It was really quite breathtaking. I did realize though that I could never live in a place that fancy – I just could not be comfortable with such obviously unnecessary expenditures.

There was a rose garden, which was quite beautiful. There was also an enormous lawn, which looked more to me like the beginnings of a golf course than a front yard.