After spending the past five days in Dublin, it was nice to spend part of our day in Glendalough, an ancient monastery just outside of the city. Dublin is great, but the fresh air of the countryside was something I think we were all missing. The Glendalough monastery was founded by a hermit monk by the name of St. Kevin in the 6th century and is located in an incredibly peaceful and scenic valley in County Wicklow. From the moment we hopped off the coach, it was obvious how special this place was. After watching a short video and spending some time in the site’s museum, we were able to walk through the ruins of the monastery at our leisure and observe the many monuments located in the valley, such as the impressive round tower standing at 30 meters high. Beyond the ancient monuments, we had an hour and a half to walk deeper into the valley and explore the area. Glendalough literally means “Valley of the Two Lakes” in Gaelic and definitely lives up to the name. We were lucky enough to wander around the two gorgeous lakes (and waterfall) located just a short distance past the monastic ruins. Everyone took pictures and took advantage of the beautiful -very atypical- Irish weather. I wish I could express how breathtaking the views were. Standing on shore looking out over the lake, it was not hard to understand why St. Kevin chose to make a life there. I think I would also become a hermit monk if I could live somewhere that picturesque.