TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

So our Wicklow Mountains outing has come to a close but the good news is we were all happy and contented. We had a great time and although the weather was nothing spectacular, it was good enough to keep us dry at the end of the day. Now that is a feat, haha! Rain is a daily phenomenon in Ireland and I was just so lucky to only have rain on my last day for a few hours. To go back to Dublin, Mister Irish Tour Guide gave us two options: (1) Go back via the mountains or (2) Go back via the coastline. It was a fast unanimous decision—COASTLINE! Obviously we want to experience another scenery. Too bad it’s not the Cliffs of Moher but it’s as close as we can get. We can’t have everything in one day right. We drove through the town of Enniskerry (Irish: Áth na Sceir) located on the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. Enniskerry is said to be the gateway to the gardens of Ireland with the nearby Powerscourt Estate and Waterfall that unfortunately I was not able to see. Well, there is alway...

After a bit of history and culture talk with Mister Irish Tour Guide about St. Kevin’s Monastery , he told us it’s time for some free time and then a little hiking activity. He’ll meet us after an hour and a half in the Upper Lake car park which is on the other side of where we are. All we’ll have to do is follow the walking trail signs from Lower Lake to Upper Lake. Glendalough means a tale of two lakes—the Lower Lake which is the smaller lake and where the monastic city is located, and the Upper Lake which is the much bigger lake and where more hiking trails are found. If you are a reader of this blog, you would know my love for walking in the nature, so I was quite excited and couldn’t wait to follow the trail. It’s not really that far but I was alone as I seem to have lost the rest of the group! Happens all the time to me because I tend to wander off. I think I took the ‘Green Road’ which was an easy route but halfway through the path was a fork and I chose the right road tha...

The Irish lunch in Laragh was lovely, and mollified from it, we are now back piled in the mini bus and looking forward to the next program in the agenda. What and where could it be? I forgot to mention that during the entire drive in the Wicklow Mountains, we only had Irish Celtic music playing on the mini bus player, and mostly from the 90’s Irish brother-sisters group hit—The Corrs. The Celtic-style melody of their music actually fit well into our Wicklow Trail drive. The 30-meter 'Round Tower' built from mica slate and granite, a multi-purpose tower serving as the monastery's landmark, bell tower, store house and refuge from plunder attacks. So our next stop, and final one that is: Glendalough (Irish: Gleann Dá Loch) which means, a tale of two lakes (upper and lower lake) in St. Kevin’s old Monastery, a monastic city built circa 6th century which flourished until the early 17th century. The place fell into ruins after this period and was utilised as a cemetery. Nowa...