Ancient Monastic Settlement, Glendalough – our last full day in Ireland (sorry to bid farewell

April 19, 2013

Ancient Monastic Settlement, Glendalough – our last full day in Ireland (sorry to bid farewell – but we’ll be back!)

April 5, 2013

A last B&B breakfast at Newlands Lodge (I had the Newlands egg melt for the second day in a row – yum!), directions from hostess, Mairead to Glendalough, and we are off on our last full day in Ireland.

We drive over Wicklow Gap on our way to Glendalough . Glendalough is a monastic settlement that is in a beautiful valley with two lakes, and was founded in the 6^th century by Saint Kevin. Most of the buildings that still survive , including Saint Kevin’s and St. Kieran’s churches, a round tower, the Caher, a cathedral, Reefert Church, etc. date from between the 10^th and 12^th centuries. We walked around the grounds (it’s a 20-25 minute walk between the lower and upper monastic areas) for about two - three hours taking it all in. Anna’s choir from Westminster College (the chamber singers) sang inside Saint Kieran’s church at Glendalough back in May, 2011 (this was an impromptu thing they did on their two week tour in Ireland; the video was hauntingly beautiful).

After a relaxing and interesting time at Glendalough, we venture north to Dublin, around on the M50 ring road, and to our last nights stay at our motel; the Premier Inn. I turn in our car early so we don’t have to mess with that the next morning, a dinner at our motel, and to bed we go.