Wicklow

In September I took a bus tour to Kilkenny through Co. Wicklow with Bridget, Rachel, Kate, and Liz. The guide was actually a bit tiring, since we had learned a lot of the stuff he told us about during our SSP lectures- in fact we had learned enough to know that he was wrong on some points. But the tour as a whole was great. The Wicklow mountains are absolutely gorgeous. They’re bright green with some patches of purple heather. The clouds sit right on top of the hills, the sides of which are dotted with sheep. Patches of farm land are divided by lines of trees or stone walls. Stone walls indicate poor farm land, because the stones were plucked right out of the ground in order to make the wall. Also, sheep graze on the poorest quality of land, cattle graze on decent land, and horses are raised on the best land. We did see a few horses along the way. If you’ve ever seen a movie set in the medieval or rural British Isles, chances are part of it was filmed in Wicklow (i.e. Braveheart). The hills look very ancient and Irish. From the summit of some of them you can almost spy the sea.

heather

misty hilltop (I can totally see William Wallace leading his rebels in a fearsome charge down this hill... and I haven't even seen Braveheart)

In the Wicklow gap is a place called Glendalough, which means “of/between the two lakes.” One of the lakes is rapidly becoming a bog. The other is quite beautiful, set between to hills. It was raining, and there was a rainbow lying along the side of one of the hills. (We spotted enough rainbows to almost get into the double digits that day) We also stopped at a ruined abbey and cemetery. There we saw a round tower, which was something we had studied in the SSP. They dot the countryside, and their purpose is unclear, but it likely had to do with pilgrims being able to find the monasteries.

the "lough"

look at that gorgeous Irish rainbow!

round tower (look how high up the door is!)


We ended the tour in the town of Kilkenny, the medieval capitol of Ireland. Kilkenny was really cute. The streets are densely packed with buildings and people. We ate lunch in a pub, with the weirdest waiter of all time. He came over and asked if we were “okay,” and at first we thought he was just a guy who had had a little too much to drink and wandered over. He continued to ask if we were okay until we finally ordered. He then came back periodically during our meal, and literally said nothing else other than “are you okay?” We then went to Kilkenny castle (every city worth its salt has a castle) and played on the grounds. It was a large, tree-lined, rolling park that looked like what I imagined the parks at Pemberely or Rosings to look like. We frolicked until the rain drove is to cover, and then it was time to leave.

Kilkenny city Kilkenny castle and luscious grounds