• At Lough Bray
    View of Dublin Bay from Killiney HillPeat bogs and heatherLough Tay (aka Guinness Lake)Our lunch pubOur lunch companionUpper Glendalough LakeUpper Glendalough lakeClose-up of Irish green (ferns on top of lichen on top of moss...)Lower Glendalough lakeChurch ruins at the Glendalough monasteryMonastery structure and roundtower in backgroundView from the busDriver John handing out our local whiskey shots

    Wicklow Mountains & Glendalough Lakes

    1 Jun, Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 55 °F

    Another day back on a day-tour bus—this time to the countryside south and east of Dublin. We started with a walk up Killiney Hill, a short drive from Dublin. We got a great view of Dublin and its coastline.

    We drove through heather-covered peat bogs (who knew they weren't just in the lowlands?) to get to Lough Tay, also called Guinness Lake, in the Wicklow Mountains. It's nicknamed Guinness Lake because the Guinness family originally owned a home there.

    After lunch in a traditional Irish pub (Guinness beef stew!), we carried on through windy mountain roads to what remains of a monastery at Glendalough. The structures that remained date from the 1100s.

    From there, we walked on part of the long-distance trail system called the Wicklow Way to the two lakes there -- upper and lower Glendalough.

    Throughout the day it was pretty windy, and occasionally rainy, but mostly it was as sunny as it probably gets in Ireland.

    Back onboard the bus at the end of the day we toasted to a great experience with a small taste of Glendalough whiskey.
    Baca lagi