Sunday, April 28, 2013

County Wicklow Mountains

Saturday we drove the short trip to the Wicklow Mountains to visit Powerscourt Gardens and then take the Military Road to Glendalough (pronounced Glen-da-lock). Rick Steves recommended this day trip from Dublin, so we thought we would do an easy one for our first trip.

We drove in through the village of Enniskerry and followed the signs to Powerscourt. It is a very large area with a golf course, a Ritz-Carlton, the main house and the gardens. We walked the garden for about 90 minutes then headed in to get a bite at the cafe. The food was decent, but I bet the cafe gets very crowded in the summer! We walked anti-clockwise through the gardens, which unfortunately was not very stroller friendly. The Japanese Gardens is probably the nicest area there, but the Walled Garden is probably very lovely in the summer.

Next we drove the old Military Road through Sally Gap to head to Glendalough. The road was pretty rough and the scenery was mostly bogs. The little village of Glencree seemed like it might have been a good place to eat lunch at the pub.

We arrived at the visitor center in Glendalough and drove around the carpark looking for a spot. In the summer, it is probably near impossible to park there. We walked around the Monastic City for a bit, then walked the boardwalk to the Upper Lake. While the boardwalk route is stroller friendly, the Green road path is no worse than the monastic city, and the boardwalk is longer. The Upper Lake is beautify with a green space for play.

With recommendation from a local, we ate at the Wicklow Heather Restaurant. It was our first (finally!) pub and it was awesome. Corned beef, potatoes, and Guinness.

Pictures can be found here.

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