April 15 - Glendalough Monastic City and Powercourt Gardens

It is cold and rainy, not a good day for sightseeing.  However, we gamely headed out to the nearest tram station and boarded is for a trip to our tour pick-up point.  We have a double decker, enclosed bus for the tour.

We drove a couple of hours into the countryside to Glendalough, the site of an old monastic city.  It was established by St. Kevin in the 6^th century. 

Most of the monastic city is in ruins but there was still much to see.  The highlights included the little church (called St. Kevin’s Kitchen for some reason)

with its cemetery that is still in use today and

the very impressive Round Tower.  It is about 100 feet high with a conical roof.  Round Towers were relatively common in Ireland and served as a landmark for pilgrims as well as a bell tower. 

We were pretty cold so didn’t spend as much time exploring as we would have liked.  Instead we went in to the Tourist Center and watched a film on the Monasteries of Ireland.

Then it was off through the countryside.  Right now the gorse is in bloom with its beautiful yellow blooms everywhere.

We passed several little churches...

and lots of green fields full of sheep.

Our next stop was Powercourt Gardens.  We had lunch at the café and then headed out to tour the gardens.  It was still a bit wet but not too bad.

The estate started as a 13^th Century castle that underwent major alterations over the years.

First stops were in some of the walled gardens.

We there was a fountain with a large basin just beyond the walled gardens

Next we went to what is one of Ireland’s largest pet cemeteries.  It was the resting place of many of the pets of the original owners of the estate, the Viscounts of Powercourt.

We stopped for pictures at Triton Lake with beautiful views of the Grand Staircase and the Manor House above.

And then went to visit the Japanese Gardens. 

There were a lot of flowers in bloom including tulips, daffodils, rhododendrons, and azaleas.

The best way back was up the Grand Staircase where we had views of the house, Triton's fountain and the gardens.

There just really wasn’t enough time to see the gardens at a leisurely pace but we saw most of them and besides, it was too rainy and cold to linger.

Then it was back to Dublin and a light dinner at the hotel.