Monday, July 27, 2009

Ireland - Friday 24 July

Friday was actually the last day of our tour and on the way to Dublin, we visited the site of the ancient St Kevin's Monastry at Glendalough. It's quite a large tract of land and contained many monastries. The first photograph shows one of the very tall monastry towers which were first belled and used as tolling landmarks for pilgrims and later as a persons and treasure refuge against the vikings who used to row up the nearby building. The towers were accessed by rope ladders to high entrances and these would be pulled up after the monks. The building in the foreground is very unusual as its roof is fully of mortared stones rather than tiles, thatch or timber. The second photo is of a grove of trees on the grounds.
We also visited the village of Avoca which has achieved fame as "Ballykissangel" in the TV series about three priests. They have a woollen weaving mill there which still does some hand-loom weaving bot as a tourist attraction and for goods to sell to the visiting tourists.

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