Friday March 13, 2009
Wild Wicklow Bus Tour

Yesterday we went on the Wild Wicklow Tour through the Irish Country side. It was a really long day, but it was beautiful. We finally got to get out of the city and even got out of County Dublin. The tour guide brought us down the Irish Sea side and through the beautiful town of Dun Laoghaire (Don Leary) and Dalkey (Dorkey) which is home of Ireland’s rich and famous. The tour guide said that Dalkey was home to some of the members of U2, Sinead O’Conner and yes, even the proclaimed Irish singer Enya! lol

We then left the coast and Dublin County behind and took off up the mountainside into County Wicklow. We stopped on the mountain side to overlook the Guinness estates while enjoying some Old Jameson Irish whiskey. It was quite cold and the mist was rolling down the mountain side making the whole experience very eerie, but exciting none the less.

We got to enjoy a traditional Irish lunch in the town Laragh (Laura) which is the highest village in Ireland before heading towards the main stop on the tour. Our last stop was at Glendalough (Glendy Lock) which was an old monastic settlement. The settlement was home to the only remaining double archway left standing in Europe (without the use of and adhesives, its just the stone on stone), the tallest Irish lookout tower, St. Kevin’s Cross which is the oldest Celtic cross in Ireland and the only remaining stone roof structure left in Europe. These structures are all focused around an ancient graveyard which actually dates back to before the time when gravestones were marked with dates. The graveyard also contained some ruins of old churches and what was left of the monastery. We also got to head off on our own to explore the two lakes settled in between the mountains within the park. The tour ended with the long ride back through the mountains and home to Dublin City.