Glendalough and Wicklow

The next day (Monday), we took a coach tour to Glendalough and Wicklow. The Wicklow mountains and the loch, formed from glaciers, were so beautiful (though I feel like I say that about everywhere I've been)! The first stop we made we walked through the national park, stopping to enjoy the loch, and slowly meandered through the woodland trails.

Legend has it that it was by this loch that St. Kevin famously had a bird build a nest and hatch chicks in his hand, all the while feeding him bugs to keep him alive. St. Kevin was an interesting guy. He also apparently threw a woman in to the loch who he believed was "satan come to tempt him." She drowned. Nice guy.

As you can see, it was quite windy! Again, I feel like I say that about many places...

Below you can see a round tower in a monastic community that is associated with St. Kevin. It's one of Irelands most well preserved monastic settlements. The tower is one of the best preserved in Ireland.

Another legend had it if you could touch your hands while wrapping your arms around this huge cross (also associated with St. Kevin), you would be married within the year. THAT'S not happening, but Paul was pretty excited his arms were long enough.

Driving through the valley, we actually were able to see some of the filming of the show "Vikings" that was occurring there. There were lots of people on horseback (warming up the horses), many trailers, vehicles, and even a helicopter flying around getting arial shots. That was really neat! You can just make out the line of horses in this picture.

Lead mining was once prosperous enterprise in Glendalough, but in many parts of the valley you can see damaged patches of land that were poisoned by these efforts. Mining does not occur here anymore, and the government is hopeful that the land will eventually heal. 

After a lovely morning in the beautiful mountains, we headed towards Kilkenny, an interesting medieval town. We decided to do our own thing in town. First, we wanted to get lunch, and we ended up finding a place to eat right across from the Kilkenny Castle.

    However, this cafe was close in the running between the two places. I think we both were happy we chose the other place, though!

These were the Rose Gardens of the Kilkenny Castle

Later that night, we met up with my family again - it was my cousin Tom's 21st Birthday! Here is a picture of us at his birthday dinner celebration. Afterwards, the oldest four in our party went out for drinks. I have said this before, but I feel SO blessed to have been able to see my family, even being across the ocean! It just so happened that our time in Ireland overlapped. Spending time with them on those two days was such a highlight of our trip!