Glendalough is a valley with two lakes in County Wicklow, about 50 km south of Dublin, in the Wicklow Mountains. The name, Glendalough, means the “valley of two lakes”.
We took a bus trip to visit this famous location with its tall round stone tower, stone church and many ruins. We learned the story of the location and its ruins. I’m using Wikipedia as my source of information at this writing.
The main tourist attraction is the early medieval monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century. Most of the old buildings are in ruins, but the round tower is still standing and St. Kevin’s Church is still intact.
The round tower is about 30 meters high and was built as a landmark and probably also as a storage area. The entrance to it is 3.5 meters from the base and there are several floors inside. If the settlement was attacked, it could also be used as a place of refuge.
There are the remains of several churches plus a cathedral. Over the centuries it seems to have been quite a large settlement here, as there would have been farms, workshops and dwellings connected to the monastery.
Today it seems to be a popular place to get out of the city though there still seems to be tourist buses. The current bus tour starts at 9 am in the center of Dublin and gets back at 17:30. (Except that during the corona-virus pandemic tours are temporarily cancelled.)