A Change of Pace

Today was AMAZING! By far the best day yet! We went on a bus tour through County Wicklow, making various stops along the way. It was so nice to get out of the city and explore the country, and boy is Ireland countryside more amazing than anything I could have ever imagined! When we first got on the bus we drove through the city along the River Liffy out to the port to view it, then from there we headed inland to County Wicklow!

The bus ride was equipped with a driver who talked over the PA system as our tour guide also. His name was Shaelyn and he was really funny! He pointed out some really neat areas and told us the names to all of the rivers and churches and towns we passed through. After about an hour of driving through amazing countryside landscapes, we stopped at our first destination, the Powerscourt House and Gardens.


The Powerscourt House is an amazing house built in the 1700’s with a garden that is almost 50 acres! The gardens were absolutely breathtaking, and to the left is a picture of the gardens from the back of the house! There are a lot more pictures of the gardens posted on my facebook if you’d like to see more. The beauty of the gardens is extremely hard to put into words. The weather was sunny and about 70 or so degrees so it was a perfect day for us to explore the stunning gardens!



The next stop was the Glendalough, which means the valley of the two lakes in Gaelic. Glendalough is higher in the mountains than Dublin, so the scenery was quite different. It was very green and had a lot of timber, which kind of reminded me of home and of Oregon. Glendalough is home to an Early Medieval monastic settlement that was founded by Saint Kevin in the 6th century. It was amazing to see such old structures that are still sturdy and standing today! There is a round Tower that is 30 meters tall! To the right is a photo of the tower and the cathedral from a distance. After the monastery was no longer in use, it became a cemetery; so many people are buried there, with the oldest tombstone dating back to the 1640’s. It is believed that Glendalough is the site where the Book of Kells was transcribed, as well as some other ancient manuscripts of the gospel.


After lunch at Glendalough, we headed out to take a scenic tour on our way back to Dublin. We stopped at the top of the mountain looking down to Glendalough valley to look back onto it. The scenery looked extremely familiar to me, but not in the since I stated earlier. Just then the bus driver told us that this was the filming location for parts of P.S. I Love You and Braveheart! I knew that I had known the area from somewhere! To the left is a picture of the most beautiful place I have witnessed since being in Ireland, which also happens to be the filming location. Haha. After stopping there, we headed further north to Wicklow Gap where we were able to take more pictures in the beautiful country.

Now we are back in Dublin and it is time for a night on the town! I mean it is our last night in Dublin after all! Until next time…

<3 Ashley