Jenny in the Land of Green: 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.