County Wicklow, Ireland
Saturday, April 29, 2006
After a hearty Irish breakfast, we met Ed our mini-bus driver from Over the Top Tours, who picked us up outside our hotel and whisked us outside the city to County
Wicklow. We drove through amazing scenery in Sally Gap, where barren hills appeared as if no human had traversed them in a thousand years. Ed told us in the summer the hills were colored purple with heather, and we tried our best to imagine the colors, but on this misty April day the hills were hued in the soothing earth tones of autumnal golden brown, with dark guinness colored peat outcroppings and areas of reforested evergreens. He informed us that these hills were the setting for the movie Braveheart and the tv show Ballykissangel, and that the Irish Army was used for all those extra bodies you see in the battle scenes during Braveheart. We all thought that enlisting in the Irish Army was a good deal because you got to be a movie star. We continued climbing through the clouds until we reached the Guinness estate and wanted to jump out because they were having an auction, but soon realized our money wouldn't buy the leg of a table chair
. Our little bus that could chugged up and over the hilly terrain until we caught a glimpse of the breathtaking view below: Guinness Lake, so called for its owners, but also because the color of the lake itself and when it reached the sandy shore, truly looked like Guinness! We were astounded and mesmerized at once. After gazing at the view, we had tea and delighted in our magical surroundings. Some of us had only just gotten off the plane, but rallied to join us for this tour in the "Garden of Ireland", which lived up to its name. We then continued further into County
Wicklow to the beautiful ancient monastery of Glendalough, founded by St. Kevin in the sixth century. These islands of learning were critical to the advancement of Irish civilization, and held great monastic wealth and treasures. The settlement was constantly under attack from invading vikings, and its roundtowers were built to house and protect its treasures. The settlement continued to expand for 600 years and was ultimately destroyed in 1398. The current buildings date from the 8th and 12th centuries, consisting of the great roundtower, a cathedral, stone churches and decorated crosses. The most impressive relic we saw was the cross believed to be St. Patrick's, which we hugged for good luck. We concluded our trip crossing the
Wicklow mountains again, passing the scenic lakes of
Blessington. We would recommend this trip, and having a guide who knew his Irish history backward and forward made it much more pleasurable than going on our own by car.
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