Meet the Skoda that we'll have till Tuesday.
Jim mastered the left side driving on the M11 and M50. Wicklow was about 45 minutes south of Dublin. No pictures on the way as we were concentrating on traffic and signs
Our home for the next 3 days. Wicklow is a small village, so nice after the hustle and bustle of Dublin. And we do need a bit of a rest. The tower and building behind is the original hotel opening in early 1900. They added 2 restaurants and a banquet hall that sort of wraps around the original building. They were pretty busy with a group of golfers the first day and an elegant luncheon with many limousines arriving in Saturday.
The Front Desk in Ireland is called Reception. Like all our hotels, this one has rich dark wood everywhere. Such old world elegance!
Donovan's Pub is where we had more delicious seafood chowder, brown bread and a yummy mango pudding type dessert. We also had the traditional fish and chips. On the other side of the lobby was the breakfast restaurant, the Blue Finn, which included the usual fried egg, bacon which really was a slice of ham and the traditional banger sausage. Also fruit, cereal, toast, brown bread and small croissant sweet rolls. Lots of coffee and tea. Warm and dry at last!!!
We choose this hotel because we could walk into town(City Centre). It was a good thing as we were there over Easter weekend. We arrived on Good Friday which is a holiday in Ireland. Saturday was Easter Egg Hunt Day which is more like our Halloween with lots of kids and parents scurrying all over town. Each store gives the kids candy, even our hotel hosted an egg hunt. We did try driving downtown one day but were traumatized by the narrow streets and all the traffic. No damage to the Skoda, but really rattled nerves.
This little waterfall is next door in front of a nightclub. It seems that all the waterways around town are channelled into walled containments. Everything is so closely built up; this must be the plan to prevent floods.
Across the street the stream runs free in the Wicklow Abbey Park
This abbey was built in the 1300s for the Franciscans. In the 1500s it was seized as part of the dissolution of all the land owned by abbeys. It must have been a grand complex. If only these walls could talk.
Every town has a town square with a monument.
No space is wasted. All buildings are attached.
Imagine, a SuperValu grocery store
We had Irish sausage and green and red pepper pizza for lunch. It was very good. I had to take a picture of this clock because Jenne and Craig are our own Irish Italian associates!
The Leitrim River
Wicklow's place along the Irish Sea. No wonder the seafood chowder is so good!!
Lovely River Walk for the portion we walked. Stately row houses line the street across from the river
Lots of homes dot the hillside
Pedestrian Bridge
Love the flowering bushes
Ancient bridge still used by cars and trucks and people
There are small open areas about every 1/2 block. Gerry, our ever knowledgeable guide told us these were for stables in the horse buggy days. This little Garden Center found a perfect spot for their store.
Wicklow St Patrick Cathedral
This picture was taken from our 2nd floor window. It was high on a hill requiring a really tough climb up three sets of stairs. So, as much as we would have like to attend Easter Services there, the climb was too much. However, they broadcasted the service and we heard quite a bit from our open hotel window. Easter in Ireland. What a blessing. So much to be thankful for.
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