COUNTY WICKLOW
County Wicklow is just south of Dublin, in County Dublin, on Ireland’s eastern coast.

Its name comes from the Old Norse term Víkingaló which means “Viking’s Meadow” and that tracks because County Wicklow is so close to the counties that make up the Viking Triangle of Ireland.

County Waterford, County Wexford, and County Kilkenny are the main counties that comprise the triangle of land where evidence and influence of Norse Viking invaders has been found.

THE GARDEN OF IRELAND
County Wicklow is known as the Garden of Ireland due to its unbelievable amount of  gardens and natural beauty.

Among the most famous are Powerscourt House & Gardens, Kilruddery House & Gardens, Mount Usher Gardens, Russborough House & Park, and Kilmacurragh National Botanic Gardens.

We recently visited Powerscourt House & Gardens, and I hope to visit more of the others in the future.

WICKLOW MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
County Wicklow is also known for its surreal Wicklow Mountains, and especially the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

50,000+ acres makes it the largest of Ireland’s six National Parks, and it is the only National Park on Ireland’s east coast.

Lugnaquilla is the tallest peak of the Wicklow Mountains, and it reaches 3,035 feet above sea level.

The most popular sites in the Wicklow Mountains National Park are Powerscourt House & Gardens and the Powerscourt Waterfall, Lough Tay, Glendalough, Sally Gap, Glencree, and Laragh.

POWERSCOURT HOUSE & GARDENS
National Geographic named Powerscourt third place for Finest Garden in the world, and Lonely Planet voted it as one of the Top Ten Houses in the world.

Many famous movies and serials were filmed in various parts of the Powerscourt estate including an essential Irish film called Barry Lyndon, Vikings, Jurassic Park: Battle at Big Rock, Penny Dreadful, Breakfast on Pluto (with Cillian Murphy), The Count Of Monte Cristo, Tudors, Willow, King Arthur (2004), and Camelot (2011).

Read my blog about Powerscourt to learn more.

POWERSCOURT WATERFALL
The Powerscourt Waterfall is Ireland’s highest waterfall at nearly 400 feet. You may recognize this waterfall from the famous film that swept the world off its feet, Cocaine Bear.

I think those are more than enough reasons to visit but if you still want to learn more about it first, read this.

LOUGH TAY
I would be painfully hard-pressed to say what the most beautiful view in Wicklow is, but Lough Tay is fighting for the top.

Commonly called Guinness Lake, I say it is due to the fact that the Guinness family owns it rather than it allegedly being the spitting image of a pint of Guinness beer. Clever marketing though, right?

Minerals of the water do give Lough Tay, derived from the Irish words for Tea Lake, the dark tannin colour it is known for.

Lough Tay is sourced by the Cloghoge River which continues on into Lough Dan, another lovely lake further south. The lakes are surrounded by the Djouce and Luggala mountains on all sides, making the whole scene look fresh out of a dream.

You can drive there and view Lough Tay from designated overlooks, take a guided bus tour, or hike on marked trails, but the lake is owned by the Guinness Estate at Luggala and it is not open for public access.

FILMING LOCATIONS
The film Irish Wish with Lindsey Lohan was filmed at Lough Tay.

I am annoyed that since its release, most of the newer articles about Lough Tay are either angled toward “it looks just like a pint of Guinness!” when it doesn’t, or  telling women to “go to make a wish to find the love of your life like Maddie (Lohan) did!”

The serial Vikings was filmed at Lough Tay also. Fans can easily use your imaginations to hone in on the patch of green to the right of the lake, filling in the blank space with all the actors and huts from the hit show.

Another rom-com filmed in this area was PS I Love You, starring Gerard Butler.

You can drive or walk across the infamous bridge but it is often crowded with tourists taking selfies who forget it is literally the only paved road in the valley one can drive on and stand in the middle of it.

GLENDALOUGH
This place is so gorgeous it could blow the pants right off you. I’d bet a tenner that I got on my fella’s nerves by howling and saying “wooooooooow” the entire time.

Glendalough comes from the Irish phrase Gleann Dá Locha, which means “valley of two lakes.” In this case, those two lakes are called the Upper Lake and the Lower Lake.

The Lower Lake is just a short walk from the Visitor Center, and typically more populated.

Glendalough is most famous for its ancient Monastic City and Ecclesiastic Settlement established by St. Kevin in the sixth century.

St. Kevin was a Christian mystic, ascetic, poet, historian, and holy man during a time when the Pagans of Ireland were abruptly being converted into Christianity.

He founded Glendalough with a group of monks and continued living there as a recluse, but was known for his ability to heal and perform miracles until his death on 3 June 618.

Each year, thousands of people still make the pilgrimage to Glendalough in honour of St. Kevin, so keep that in mind when planning your visit.

The structure below is St. Kevin’s Church, one of several churches in the settlement.

The Cathedral of St. Peter & St. Paul is the largest of the churches, and is more like a labyrinth than a simple building.

To most of us, this Monastic settlement may not seem like much of a “city” but it was impressive for its time.

The monks who lived there practiced writing and copying ancient and religious texts, and created a hub for agricultural education on site.

I really enjoyed wandering through these ancient High Crosses among the Celtic Cross gravestones. We were surprised to see that a few of the interred are as recent as last year.

High Crosses, yet another distinctly Irish motif, are used to signify boundary lines for sacred territories instead of marking graves.

There are three types of Celtic High Crosses in Ireland; plain, ornamental with abstract carvings, and scriptural crosses that are also called Sermons in Stone.

Some of the most impressive features about the settlement are the distinct methods of construction.

A technique called Drystone or drystacking involves building walls and archways by stacking stones without any substances to bond or hold them. It requires great skill, and is almost strictly unique to Ireland.

The entrance to the Monastic City was created by using the Drystone method, and you might start to notice it more frequently once you are aware of it.

Also unique to Ireland is the presence of a Round Tower, like the 98-feet tall one here at Glendalough.

These towers were commonly used by monks for protection during attacks when they would all climb up a wooden ladder, pull it inside with them, and seal the door so invaders could neither reach nor permeate it.

Towers were used as lookouts, and to store supplies and valuables as well.

Glendalough Valley was the site of a galena lead mine from the 1820s until the 1950s, and you will likely come across some remnants of those depending on where you go trekking about.

Rock climbing and hiking are serious past times in Glendalough.

Wicklow Way is the first waymarked long distance walking route in Ireland. It runs more than 80 miles from south of Dublin through the Wicklow Mountains National Park, intersecting with St. Kevin’s Way in Glendalough.

St. Kevin’s Way is a 16-mile ancient pilgrimage path, if you are looking for something a little more contained.

You can learn all about Wicklow Way, St. Kevin’s Way, and other walking trails here.

We made our way along the trail up to the Upper Lake, stopping to admire the vibrant green moss growing on all of the otherwise bare trees of winter and gawking at sporadic waterfalls we saw every few turns.

Something about this country makes me want to curl up and take a princess nap in every place I look.

Green is my favourite colour and when it comes to green, all else pales in comparison to the Emerald Isle.

We finally reached the Upper Lake and were rewarded with this serene view. The only sounds here were the water gently lapping against the shore and a few birds singing out from somewhere beyond.

We stopped by a snack stand for a hot latte further down the trail and made our way back to the Visitor Center via the boardwalk trail that weaved its way through the marshy side of things, parallel to the road.

Learn more about Glendalough Heritage here, and be sure to check out all the exhibits or schedule a guided tour at the Visitor Center.

Parking is usually free in the lower lot but on certain days of the year, usually during events like The Walking Festival, Bealtaine Festival, Festival of St. Kevin, St. Laurence O’Toole Festival, or Wicklow Gardens Festival, there may be a fee.

While you are in Glendalough Valley, stop by the Glendalough Hotel and the Glendalough Distillery.

GLENMACNASS WATERFALL
As you are driving along Sally Gap Road/R115/Military Road between Newtown Park and Lough Ouler, you can not miss the Glenmacnass Waterfall. Heading north, it will be on your left.

Glenmacnass is Irish for “Glen of the Hollow of the Waterfall” and the falls are over 260 feet high.

The Glenmacnass Valley itself connects Sally Gap to the town / village of Laragh.

SALLY GAP
Speaking of Sally Gap, now is a good time to clarify that it is one of two mountain passes through, and to many attractions within, the Wicklow Mountains.

Sally Gap is also known as R1115 and as Old Military Road.

One of the best things about driving around in Ireland is all the sheep. They’re everywhere. You can pat their little bums from the car window if you are lucky.

GLENCREE
There is a German Soldiers War Cemetery, of all things, in the Wicklow Mountains.

Ja, you read that right.

This quiet little quarry with a gushing waterfall from the Glencree River is the perfect final resting place of  134 German soldiers, citizens, prisoners of war, and/or spies who lost their lives in Ireland during World War I and World War II.

Pretty swell of the Irish folk to continue maintaining the gravesite all this time.

Glencree was used as army barracks for the British back in the 1800s, as  a refugee center for German children after bomb attacks in 1945, and as a center for peace during times of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The cemetery was open to the public in 1961 after some tensions between the German and Irish governments cooled.

Fun fact, Charlie Chaplin’s uncle was part of the cemetery’s construction crew and Chaplin was reported to have made a visit to the site before it was complete.

Just down the lane is the Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation and its Armoury Cafe.

I enjoyed checking out the interesting stone architecture as well as the opportunity to sit, sip a hot latte, and try one of their frittatas.

LARAGH
We spent the night in a tiny little village called Laragh, in a place called Tudor Lodge. The village was cute and the lodge was really  cool, but JFC the manager was an arrogant prick.

After a series of mishaps beyond our control, we arrived to the lodge at 20:11. It was dark, I had no cell signal or GPS, so navigation was frustrating. There had been a wreck, it was raining, so on and so forth.

We knocked on the door and waited two or three minutes. Manager opens the door to inform us that we were 15 minutes late but he waited up for us anyways. Sorry, we had a curfew?

He then walked around pointing briskly at things and commanding us to “TAKE A PHOTO WITH YOUR PHONE” as if we were children who could not retain words.

Thanks for asking if we were alright, ya gobshite. That really should have been your first move as a manager when guests showed up frazzled.

Anyways, the room was nice. Breakfast was delicious, and the sweet Ukrainian gal who took care of us totally made up for the awful manager. I would absolutely stay here again, and I would love to see more of Laragh some time.

If you want something lighter than the traditional Irish fry-up breakfast, they offer smoked salmon and eggs and various other items on their breakfast bar.

For dinner, we visited the Wicklow Heather Restaurant down the road. It was warm, welcoming, lively, and our server was full of helpful info about their food and the village itself.

I had been on a week-long mission to eat all the seafood chowder I could find and was pleased to not have to break my streak. Their chowder and brown bread was aces.

I also had their fish and chips, and my fella had a fish dish that I can not recall the exact details of. Excellent all around.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
This blog does not even cover half of all there is to do in the Wicklow Mountains National Park. The thing I missed out on most was a visit to Victor’s Way Sculpture Park, but they were and still are temporarily closed. I also heard that the Bray Head Cliff Walk is a must see. What else did we miss?

Super special thanks to John P. Clare for capturing some of these lovely photos during our trip so that I could share them here. I took my own, but his turned out way better.

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