Garden of Ireland

If you ever make it to Ireland, the one place you must see is the Wicklow Mountains. It is known as the 'Garden of Ireland' for good reason. There are not many words sufficient to describe the beauty of this area. Most of the mountains are privately owned by a couple different family estates which has helped keep it from being developed. This was an amazing day so lots of pictures. Here are some of my favorites.

The brown patches are heather. In late July to August the brown patches bloom with purple flowers.

This is the bridge where something important happens in the movie P.S. I Love You. I saw the movie several years ago and don't remember anything about it except that it wasn't that great. If you love the movie, you will probably know why people get engaged in this spot. If you haven't seen the movie, then it is just a pretty little bridge.

This is the lake where the Vikings TV show (on the History channel) is filmed. If you look closely at the shore on the right you can see some wooden houses being built for the movie. Parts of the movie Braveheart were also filmed in this area and throughout the Wicklow Mountains.

Many areas of Ireland have bogs which are made of soil that has been compressed over hundreds of years. The bogs are cut into bricks and dried over many months to be used in fires.

On the far end of the Wicklow Mountains lies Glendalough, 'the land of two lakes'. About 1000 years ago, a man named Kevin decided to become a hermit and spend the rest of his life praying to God. He chose to live out his days in a cave in Glendalough. As people learned of this man living in the mountains, they began to migrate to the valley near his cave. Eventually, a monastery was built by some monks and people would make pilgrimages to the area. At one point there were 5000 people living in the valley. Kevin was later designated a saint. Most of these pictures are of the monastic city that used to house the monks who followed St. Kevin.

Glendalough Forest

The Upper Lake

The Upper Lake 2

Reefert Church built in the 11th century.

Reefert Church and Graveyard

Ferns growing in the walls of Reefert Church

This little alcove in the wall of Reefert Church had several coins in it. I assume the coins are supposed to bring luck so I put in a 2 cent piece. Who would turn down a little good luck?

The Monastic City

The roof of this church is made from stone. Amazing that it has stayed intact for so many centuries.

The Round Tower. The opening you see there is actually the entrance. Wooden steps were built to reach the entrance. Because the tower is so tall, the entrance had to be higher so the whole thing would not fall over. It was used as a lookout, particularly to warn the community to run into the mountains in the case of a viking invasion.

Outside view of St. Patrick and Peter Cathedral

Inside the cathedral

This grave marker is inside the cathedral and lists the deceased as being 102 years old when he died in 1789.

The Irish Sea

So it turns out that I am as good at blogging as I am at Facebooking, meaning, I am not very good at it. For those of you anticipating my every word (of course you all have nothing better to do), I'll try to be better. The weekdays are very busy with school. Classes are in the morning and then usually 100+ pages to read for the next day's class. I am a fast reader in general, but these readings have not been easy and talk some time. I have also started my internship with a local barrister and get to research constitutional issues for a couple of cases. Due to confidentiality, I can't say much about them, but I am very excited for the opportunity to help with these particular cases.

The highlight of this week was our group excursion to the Wicklow Mountains and Glendalough. There is a lot to tell about and some great views to show you. But there is soooo much amazing scenery and I want to be able to tell you a little about everything, so it is going to take me a couple of days to get it all posted. For now, here are the sights of the Irish Sea before we get to the spectacular Wicklow Mountains. Our first stop was about 10-15 minutes south of Dublin in a little place called Sandycove.

Sandycove

Before I go further, it bears stating that Ireland is obsessed with James Joyce. James Joyce wrote a book called Ulysses which is considered one of the most important literary works of the 20th century. Because of this obsession with Joyce, many points of interest in the Dublin vicinity are based on James Joyce and most particularly, Ulysses. Tomorrow, June 16, is Bloomsday and all of Dublin celebrates Ulysses with festivals and events. More on this topic after Bloomsday. It will likely be a post all on its own. I mention it now only so you can understand the importance of the round tower in Sandycove where James Joyce lived for a short time. From the information I have gathered, it seems he lived here for only six days when he was 22 years old.


The tower was originally a Martello tower, one of many built throughout the cove as a defense against Napoleon. The walls are eight feet thick and used to have a cannon on the top. Now the tower is a James Joyce Museum.

James Joyce Death Mask

James Joyce Memorabilia

The Round Room. Joyce lived in this room with a couple of friends.

You have to go up this stairwell to get from the first floor to the round room to the roof. It is about 4 feet wide and very steep. Not a good place for people with a fear of heights or small spaces. Luckily I have neither of those fears, but I do have a fear of falling down stairs. The benefit here is that the walls are so close together that you are more likely to fall into a wall then down the stairs.

Our bus driver kept joking about people swimming in the Irish Sea on our way to Sandycove. At least I assumed it was a joke because the weather is usually around 60-65 degrees everyday and overcast at least half the day. You know the water will be cold and it isn't really good tanning weather. Why would anyone want to swim here? Who really knows, but apparently some people are not bothered by the cold. When people want to swim in the Irish Sea, they visit the Gentleman's Bathing Place. Up until the 1970's, only men were allowed to come here and they would all skinny dip in the Sea. Now it is open to the public and togs (swimsuits) are required.  

 

 

 

Stairs leading into the sea.

Those little specks out there are people swimming.

Some of the group.

Next, we walked to the top of Killiney Hill. The view is amazing. You can see Dublin, Bray, and the Irish Sea. It is a full panoramic, circular view.

Looking toward Bray

Looking toward Dublin

Another favorite Irish son is Bono from U2. He lives just down the hill here next Enya who lives in castle with a recording studio.

At the top of Killeny Hill there is an obelisk. During the Great Potato Famine, obelisks like this were built all over the place. They had no purpose other than to provide work to starving people so they could get food.

Famine Obelisk

End of part one. To be continued......

Daedalus Flew. There is nothing significant about this sculpture other than the fact that I like it. If you don't remember your Greek mythology, Daedalus was the father of Icarus who flew too close to the sun with the wax wings Daedalus had made. The sculpture looks like he is just about to take flight.

St. Stephen's Green

 First day in Dublin consisted of sleeping to get over jetlag. This will definitely take a couple of days since I have never been able to sleep on things that move, like airplanes.

Second day in Dublin, I decided to walk to St. Stephen's Green, maybe 1 1/2 miles away. It was a lovely walk. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the trees were swaying in the breeze. Suddenly....pow! I landed face down on the sidewalk! It was one of those falls that you know could never appear graceful. Luckily, the street was nearly empty, except of course for the attractive Irishman out for a run who saw the whole thing. Quite the way to make a first impression! Anyway, he continued his run after making sure I was okay and I brushed myself off, laughed at myself, and kept moving forward...'cause really, what else can you do?

St. Stephen's Green is a park. Why is it called St. Stephen's Green you ask? That I can't answer, but I can tell you that it is Ireland's most well known Victorian Park. In fact, it has had the same layout since 1880. The first few pictures below show the center of the park, one of the fountains (for some reason full of suds), one of the lovely shady green paths, and one of the colorful flower beds.

 
The park also has several memorials and statutes. Ireland is extremely proud of their independence and their poets.

The Nationalists:

Robert Emmet was one of the early rebels who tried to help Ireland gain its independence from England. After a failed rebellion in 1803, he was hanged and beheaded for treason. His final speech on the dock before his execution brought inspiration to the people who fought for and eventually won Ireland's independence over 100 years later.

Constance Markievicz was born into a privileged family who was later inspired by the words of Robert Emmet and became one of the primary leaders in the fight for women's suffrage and Ireland's independence.

Tom Kettle was a politician, economist, and poet. He was a leader of the Home Rule (Irish Independence) movement in Ireland at the turn of the 20th Century. When WWI broke out, he joined the English Army to fight and was considered a traitor by some in Ireland. Today he is considered a patriot. Just before he died in the war, he wrote a poem to his daughter. The last few lines are inscribed on the bottom of the memorial: Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor,—
But for a dream, born in a herdsman's shed,
And for the secret Scripture of the poor.

The Poets and Writers:

James Joyce

James Clarence Mangan

Tagore

A couple more historic statues:

The Famine. Portrays the Great Famine that happened in Ireland from 1845-1852. The potato crops failed and one million people died from starvation and one million people emigrated. This is one of the most important events in Ireland's history.

The Three Fates. A gift from the people of Germany to the people of Ireland for their help to the refugees during WWII.

After spending some time walking through the park, I headed over to the Shopping Centre and Grafton Street. This is a popular shopping/tourist area. This area feels very Amercanized. It includes a McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and TGIFriday. The Shopping Centre has stores like GameStop and Claires.

Street Performers on Grafton Street. These are real people holding absolutely still next to a stuffed dog (the stuffed dog is the give away).

 

St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre