Day 5

 

Day 5  - Glendalough and Kilkenny

 

Today was an all day tour to Wicklow mountains, Glendalough and Kilkenny. We took a taxi from the hotel to the tour meeting place in O’ Connell Street. We got there at about 8:20 am and the bus was already half full. The tour started at 8:45 am and it was completely full. Our guide Martin was very friendly and chatty and very knowledgeable about Irish history. We were surprised at the end of the tour when he told us that this was only his fourth tour. Before he retired, he was a high ranking guarda (police) official. Our driver Mike was just as friendly and knowledgeable. The first stop was Glendalough, one of the most important monastic sites in Ireland. It was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. It has the ruins of a church and a couple of other buildings, a standing 30 meter high Round Tower and a very picturesque cemetery. All this is set in a valley among gorgeous green hills/mountains. It’s a very beautiful and peaceful place.  There is a trail that leads to two lakes – a smaller lower lake is only a ten-minute walk, and the larger upper lake – about a 25-minute walk. This is a very popular place so there were many tourists there, but the site is so large that you can easily escape the crowd.   Next stop was the medieval town of Kilkenny. It is an interesting, bustling city with many historical buildings, including the castle and a well preserved merchant home from 1592 that has period furnishings. We had lunch there and did the tour of  “medieval mile” with our guide, Martin. Bo also visited the Kilkenny Design Center for local crafts. Then the 2 hour trip  back to Dublin. We had dinner at Kennedys pub which is famous for previous patrons : Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and Oscar Wilde. Our waitress Berenice was from Mexico so we had a nice chat with her about her favorite places in Mexico and in Dublin. Live music was pretty nice too.  









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