Dublin to Waterford

Thoughts on Dublin – not as charming as many European cities that we have visited in the past; steeped in history; everyone there seems to be engaging, witty, humorous, helpful, and easy to talk to; very little middle class and our AirBnB apartment was located in a working class neighborhood; bottom line is we enjoyed our time in Dublin, but we knew we wanted to see more of the country as opposed to a European metropolitan city.
This morning Tom and I checked out of our Dublin apartment and said goodbye to our host Fionauala – but before doing so she gave us a lift to a little café just a block away from where we were to pick up our rental car.

 At the Café Madeline Tom and I shared a full Irish breakfast consisting of fried eggs, mushrooms, bacon, beans, toast, and sausage – plus our coffee and tea. We figured we better fill up not knowing what the unknown road ahead may bring today. The owner and his staff, plus all of his regular patrons, were quick to make us feel welcome – laughing and joking about all the Leprechauns gold in our suitcases that we were taking out of the country – no wonder Irish taxes were so high !

Now, after picking up the rental car, a Skoda Citicar – smaller than a Mini-Cooper, it was time to drive on the left hand side of the road with Tom in the traditional US passenger seat doing the driving and shifting left-handed. OMG – what a befuddling experience for both of us – especially me sitting in the customary US driver’s seat. Truth be told I only grabbed the ‘Oh $@*% bar’ maybe 6 times total !

After taking the highway around the city, we turned onto our first “back road” – it was so narrow and twisty. Our very dear next door neighbors recently completed the Tail of the Dragon road tour in Tennessee – I assure everyone that we did the whole Dragon head-to-tail ! The road was bumpy, washed out in sections, just 1½ car widths wide, sheep everywhere, alternating beautiful sunshine with wind then rain, and speed confined to roughly 22 mph (of course, kph here in Ireland) – all the while Tom was driving and shifting on the left hand side !

We came upon a hamlet named Glencree which we decided to investigate a little further. There was a small Visitors Center which gave us some history on an interesting ruin and St. Mary’s church and cemetery. The ruin was originally an English barracks along the Military Road we were travelling; then a Reform School for Boys. In the cemetery were German soldiers form World War I who were killed on the nearby coasts. The complex is now a Center for Peace.

Tom and I left to drive up and over the Sally Gap – it was not as pretty as we expected being rather windswept and desolate. To our surprise there were many off-the-beaten-path hiking trails, and bicyclists sharing the very narrow back roads.

Our goal for the late morning was to get to Glendalough, a 6^th century monastic settlement, one of Ireland’s most beautiful visitors’ destinations. For thousands of years people have been drawn to ‘the valley of the two lakes’ for its spectacular scenery, rich history, archaeology and abundant wildlife. The substantial remains of this important relic sits tucked into a glaciated valley containing two dark and mysterious lakes. This early Christian monastic settlement was founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century and from this developed the “Monastic City”. The ecclesiastical community, with the remains includes a superb round bell tower, priests’ houses/homes, cemetery, stone churches, and decorated crosses.

This is where we found out that the yellow bushes across all hillsides were called ‘gorse’ – against the lush green landscape the bright yellow was visible at a great distance. I imagined the vegetation to be sweet-smelling and soft to the touch – nothing was further from the truth - prickly foliage and no smell. We spent way more time than we had planned and just couldn’t tear ourselves away from the majestic ruins. If we had more time, we could have explored all of the hiking trails leading into the Wicklow National Park.

We were soon on the back roads again heading across the Wicklow Gap, where several movies have been filmed including Braveheart – it was the perfect setting and now Tom and I have to watch the movie again when we return to South Carolina. The area was markedly different than Sally Gap which we passed through just a short while before.

It was now time for us to leave the ‘back roads’ and take the highway toward Waterford on the southeast coast of Ireland. In the village of Baltinglas we passed the ruins of Baltinglas Abbey with it bridge across the River Slaney. The abbey was built in the 1150’s and finished in 1170. At its closure in 1537 Baltinglass was one of the richest Abbeys in Ireland.

During the last part of our journey to Waterford we were surrounded by emerald green rolling hills and lush pastures filled with sheep, cows, and horses. When we arrived in Waterford we were delighted to discover our AirBnB apartment was located in the top floor of a charming Georgian style row house built in 1900. The apartment is within walking distance of the Viking Triangle in Waterford which we plan to thoroughly explore tomorrow.