County Wicklow 2001
County Wicklow is a short drive south of Dublin. It's a picturesque region full of very small towns, connected by very narrow roads, which fortunately for us, were more or less empty on the sunny Monday morning we were there in July 2001.
Our first stop was Powerscourt Gardens. We arrived just as they opened and strolled through the thousand acre gardens for several hours alone with our thoughts. The visually stunning Stanley Kubric film, Barry Lyndon, was filmed here. Strolling the equally stunning gardens, I felt like aristocracy. After our stroll we had a late breakfast enjoying the sunshine over looking the gardens.
Our next stop was Glendalough. This is the site of an ancient ruined Irish city dating from the 6th century. There are a couple of lakes. walking trails, a cemetery and a number of restored buildings mostly from the 8th to 12th century. We spent several hours walking the walks, wandering through the restored buildings and ended our tour of Glendalough with a late lunch.
Getting lost in this region was actually pretty entertaining and we did finally find our last planned stop in our touring. Avoca is at the south end of County Wicklow and is well known in Ireland as the home of the Avoca Hand Weavers. This name evoked an image of an old lady with yarn woven through her fingers, but the reality was more interesting. The weaving is done in a weaving mill built in 1723 on hand operated looms. I was fascinated by this and confess, we spent more time here than I would have imagined when we started out.
Read MoreOur first stop was Powerscourt Gardens. We arrived just as they opened and strolled through the thousand acre gardens for several hours alone with our thoughts. The visually stunning Stanley Kubric film, Barry Lyndon, was filmed here. Strolling the equally stunning gardens, I felt like aristocracy. After our stroll we had a late breakfast enjoying the sunshine over looking the gardens.
Our next stop was Glendalough. This is the site of an ancient ruined Irish city dating from the 6th century. There are a couple of lakes. walking trails, a cemetery and a number of restored buildings mostly from the 8th to 12th century. We spent several hours walking the walks, wandering through the restored buildings and ended our tour of Glendalough with a late lunch.
Getting lost in this region was actually pretty entertaining and we did finally find our last planned stop in our touring. Avoca is at the south end of County Wicklow and is well known in Ireland as the home of the Avoca Hand Weavers. This name evoked an image of an old lady with yarn woven through her fingers, but the reality was more interesting. The weaving is done in a weaving mill built in 1723 on hand operated looms. I was fascinated by this and confess, we spent more time here than I would have imagined when we started out.
