[2025 Wicklow Attraction] Travel Guide for Glendalough Cathedral (Updated Jul)

The young lady visits Ireland every year, and this time her main destination was Saltee Island to see puffins. On the first afternoon, her flight arrived on time 🛬. After picking her up, we first headed to the Glendalough Monastery ruins and lake area in Wicklow Mountains National Park, also known as the Heart-Shaped Lake. The young lady took a short hike and captured many beautiful photos. Then we drove directly to Wexford, where she enjoyed dinner in the town before being taken to her hotel in Kilmore Quay to rest. The next morning, she woke up naturally and enjoyed a traditional Irish breakfast before walking to the pier for the island birdwatching tour. She had booked her boat tickets well in advance, and the weather was exceptionally good—sunny with little wind. After about 3 hours on the island (excluding the boat ride), she returned to the pier in the afternoon. After a short break, we continued to Hook Lighthouse, an ancient lighthouse with stunning coastal cliff views. Following dinner in Wexford, we returned to Dublin, happily concluding the trip. 🌹

#europetrip Take a half day and steep yourself in over 1200 years of history, beginning with a beautiful glacial valley where a medieval monastic settlement was started by St Kevin bordering on two fresh lakes for which the area was named. Take a guided tour or simple wander among the ancient family graves some of which are so old they can almost not be recognized as headstones. Bring your hiking boots and follow the well-trodden trail to both lakes, through forest and meadows occasionally dotted with sheep. Weekdays, out of season, are best to avoid the crowds. The site may be very overcrowded on in-season weekends and if time permits avoid visiting at those times.

To find a ruin in Ireland, for fear of being more suitable than the sleek Glendalough. Glendalough means the canyon between the two lakes in Irish, which, as its name implies, is a secluded valley with two lakes. The granary and round tower of Glendalough Monastery, which is closer to Taniguchi than the lake, is full of quaint and subtle atmosphere, and this piece of treasure is covered with a mysterious veil. As we walked through a path of blue flowers and pine cones on the ground, a large ruined wall with a cemetery appeared in front of us. When the heyday, the monks here reached 3,000 people, and the Vikings harassed and looted over the years, but they failed to withstand the destruction of the British army of Henry VIII, the monastery of the 16th century. It was destroyed and abandoned. Only the remains of the four-walled cathedral are the largest remnants of existence. Going deep into the valley, the first lake to see first is not too big. The shore of the lake just meets a group of sheep who are grazing leisurely, so that this picture instantly becomes agile. The second lake, which went up for another ten minutes, was one of the locations of Mel Gibsons grand epic film Braveheart.