Easter in Ireland

The next day was Easter Sunday and we were a little nervous about being able to find things to do in Ireland on this day since Easter is such a big part of Irish culture. Luckily, we found a day trip out of Dublin that took us to the Wicklow Mountains, a stop to see a sheepdog demonstration and ending in the town of Kilkenny.

We started the morning with a breakfast to go from the hotel…..I have to say, as much as I love AirBnBs and the wonderful owners, it’s so nice to have the extra amenities of a hotel. We grabbed our breakfast and walked to the meeting place of our tour bus and ate it while we waited to get started, it was great and so easy!

Our guide, Roger, started us off with a drive through Dublin to get out of town. He taught us several things about Dublin and Ireland. As we drove through town, he pointed out all of the colored doors on the homes of Dubliners. There are a lot of photos you can find online to see these fun colors. There are

a lot of theories about why the doors are so colorful. Roger shared with us our favorite......when the husband of Queen Victoria died, she ordered that everyone paint their doors black for mourning. Because there had been such a history between Ireland and England (particularly around religion) they refused and instead painted bright colors!

Other facts Roger shared with us on the drive: 65% of Ireland’s fruits and vegetables come from Dublin County. He also made sure we didn’t leave the tour without learning some true Irish words. Roger told us that there had recently been a census of how many Irish people knew the Irish language and it is thought that the majority of people said ‘yes’ they know the language. But in reality, most people only know ‘cupla focail’ (Pronounced Coopla fucklow) meaning ‘a couple words’. Another important phrase to remember? ‘uisce beatha’ (pronounced eesh-kabaha) means ‘the waters of life’ and refers to what else? Whiskey! 

Part of the monastery

The joke on the tour (to us) was that we were going to see the Wicklow ‘Mountains’…..because to Ireland they are, but to those of us already living at Mile High……3,000’ mountains aren’t much as far as altitude goes! After driving through the Wicklow Mountain National Park, we made our way to Glendalough (pronounced Glen-da-lock) Monastic Settlement. Because it was Easter Sunday, traffic was very light and we made it in record time with lots of time to wander the settlement. Wicklow Mountains National Park stretches across almost 23,000 hectares south of Dublin. The largest of Ireland's National Parks, and the only one in the east. 

Glendalough Upper Lake

The monastery was founded in the 6th century by Saint Kevin. Most of the buildings that survive today date back to the 10th-12th century. There is a walking path at the settlement, so we walked our way out to the Glendalough Upper Lake and wandered the lake a bit. Across the way he pointed out where Saint Kevin 'hid' in a cave for years.

The lake has easy access to a parking lot, to allow for better hiking and tourist stops and in the parking lot there were food trucks with ice cream, burgers, etc. Roger said we wouldn’t have much time elsewhere for food, so we got a burger and then made our way back. Because we arrived so early with the traffic, we had to keep wandering the settlement until our set time to leave. Our next step had a specific arrival time and we couldn’t get there any earlier.

Once we got in the bus to keep going, we went through what’s called Sally Gap. For those of us that live in Colorado, it’s very reminiscent of a mountain pass with the Valley below. We stopped to take pictures and it was COLD AND WINDY. We made our way to the top, snapped the photo and then ran back to the bus!

Just a little wind

Our next stop was probably our favorite of the day – a sheepdog demonstration! Because Koda is part border collie, we thought it would be fun to watch the dogs in action – see how he’s supposed to act – ha! The dog we saw in action was named Maggie, she was so talented! The owner and trainer told us that they teach the dogs to learn both commands and whistles, and that each dog has different commands to learn. The whistles are for when the dogs are so far out that they can’t hear the words. The trainer showed us lots of variations of Maggie in action with her different whistles and words, then he gave her a break and let her rest. While she was resting, he brought out some border collie puppies that have not yet started training and some baby lambs! We were able to hold both of them – and you can imagine everyone fought over them.

While there, we learned that most of the wool you find in Ireland is actually not from Ireland, but New Zealand. He said the profit and ROI for the wool is so low that it doesn’t make sense to grow sheep for wool. Instead, they are now grown for meat. You would think hearing this would somehow make you not want to eat lamb, but we felt the opposite and kept looking for it on the menu!

When planning this trip, originally I had identified Kilkenny as a town that would be fun to stay in overnight. We quickly realized that we weren’t going to have time to do that, so instead we found this tour that had a stop in the town. Unfortunately, because it was Easter Sunday, and towards the end of the day, most everything in the town was closed. When we arrived, we were able to roam the grounds of the Kilkenny Castle and do some shopping on the main street, but that was about it. What was odd, we had so much time to kill at the monastic settlement, yet somehow at Kilkenny we had to be in and out in about an hour. Nevertheless, we were pretty wiped out anyway so were happy to get in the bus and head back to Dublin.

Kilkenny Castle

When we got back to the hotel, we changed and cleaned up and made our way to dinner. I had read about this restaurant called Bovinity online that had great reviews and happened to be close to our hotel. Not only was it about a 5 minute walk, but it was on Capel street. A happy coincidence, thisstreet is considered to be one of the ‘trendiest in the world’ right now and isa pedestrian only street. It’s home to a ton of great restaurants and shops and just had a fun energy when walking up and down it! We had a lovely dinner and then made our way home to bed!

Our next morning was our last in Dublin before heading out of town. For the past three days, we had walked by this cute restaurant right by our hotel called, Panem so decided to have breakfast there. Such a cute little café with tables outside on the street and in! We had a table outside to start but it was chilly and asked to be moved inside when we could – thank goodness for that! About five minutes after we moved inside, it started raining! By that point, we were already in our cozy table eating breakfast. After eating, we kept making our way down the main street (Ormond Quay Lower). I had read about a hot chocolate shop down the street called, The Sweetest Thing, that we thought we should visit. Who knew there were so many different types of hot chocolate?! From there, we slowly made our way back to the hotel – with time to kill. We found a mall in the middle of the street and wondered through the stores, I found a bookstore and of course I had to buy myself something to read, and then we got a drink at the hotel before calling it quits. From there, we called a cab and took ourselves to the Dublin train station…..it was time to meet up with our friends, Jonathan and Katie for the rest of the adventure!