Arcadia Ireland

I find a visit to Glendalough is a little bit like a visit back in time, even the drive through the quaint county Wicklow countryside makes me think of old Ireland.

First stop was the visitor’s centre for a film explaining this historical significance of the buildings at Glendalough and Monastic Ireland. Following this, we visited the exhibition of artifacts found at Glendalough dating back to the 5th century as well as a model of what the Glendalough monastery would have looked like 1,500 years ago when it was founded.

Then the real fun began, we met up with our hiking guide who brought us first to the see the ruins of the Cathedral and the still intact Round Tower. She was able to give us a real insight as to what it must have been like back then.

We began our hiking adventure from the Round Tower, as we proceeded along the trail our guide told us about the different wild flowers growing and which ones we could eat.

The going got a little tough after a while as we began the incline but the view from the top was well worth it. We were able to see right down to where we had began; an amazing view overlooking the remains of the monastery and the lower lake.

Unfortunately what goes up must come down, but we had our picnic to look forward to at the bottom. The students also found an ice-cream vendor and we were well entitled to a little treat after a 2 hour hike!