Dún Laoghaire and the Wild Wicklow

Thursday David dropped Pauline at work in Dún Laoghaire (pronounced like the words 'done' and 'leery') so she could go to her job working for Irish Lights, which I initially thought was a job working for the electric company but turns out to be a job with the lighthouses.



I was catching a tour bus that goes all over the countryside for 6 or 7 hours.

Our first stop was the James Joyce Tower. Joyce slept there exactly 6 nights.



Some seniors were enjoying a skinny dip in the Irish Sea. Very cold.






The view from the top.




James Joyce slept here.

Next stop: Avoca Weavers for food and shopping



We got a short history of Ireland: Celts originally from Northern Spain, Vikings, Vikings again in the form now of Christian Normans who were given large tracts of land such as PowersCourt here,







The ditch across this field was built so the mistress of the manor didn't have to watch the servants walking across the field. It's called The HaHa Ditch.

The Wicklow Mountains were formed by glaciers resulting in peat bogs which can only support ferns, rhododendrons and heather. Deep pockets hold lakes like this one.


Hedgerows, the church where Tom Cruise married Nicole Kidman, farms,












Dried peat was burned in the absence of coal. Ireland was neutral during WWII. Britain refused to sell the Irish any coal so they ended up trying to use peat.  It is a very poor fuel but it works in a pinch. Since Ireland was neutral, German fliers would fly up the Wicklow Mountains to bomb Belfast. Belfast and Northern Ireland were allied with the British during the war and, therefore, were enemies of the Germans.  Over 1200 German planes crashed along the mountain range. Survivors were housed in a benign POW camp till the war ended, just to keep them from being out with the regular population.


Where Braveheart was filmed.



We saw the start of the River Liffey near here.



The Guinness Hunting Estate










Lunch was in a very small town called Laragh. After eating, I walked around and took pictures.












We drove for only a few minutes and stopped for a tour at Glendalough.
Our guide took us through an old monastery, explained all about early Christianity in Ireland, St. Kevin, and how monasteries built round towers to escape Viking invaders.









This cathedral the first for Dublin.



The Celtic cross was an incorporation of Celtic sun worship and Christianity.



Flour for the 'host' was ground in this hole in the wall.  The job was both punishment and privilege.



The chalice was washed here.



St. Kevin's cross made of solid granite which was difficult to carve.



The chapel: since it's roof was stone, it withstood pillaging and burning because it wasn't thatched. It had a round tower on it, kind of like an in-joke against the Vikings. Those towers were where they would hide themselves and their treasures during raids. The Vikings never figured it out.....

Then the driver told us to literally take a hike. 1.6 miles up to a lake. He'd meet us there with the whiskey. He wasn't kidding.












Then we all became great friends and we drove back to Dublin.

Location:Dún Laoghaire