My Wandering Wings: Jailed in Wicklow

Day 4 in Ireland. Glendolough, Wicklow and Wexford

What a variety of sights we we saw today! For our earliest day of the trip so far, I fared pretty well. We left the hotel around 9 a.m., which would be about 3 a.m. in the United States.

Our first stop was Glendolough. And boy, was it GORGEOUS. I mean, when you think about Ireland, you really think about Glendolough. Green. Moss. Trickling water. Old stone buildings. Picturesque and historical in every way.

One of the oldest monasteries is in Glendolough, along with a lake and a few small water falls. It's embedded in the valley of some Irish "mountains" for you Coloradans who claim nothing is a mountain once you've seen the Rockies.

It reminded me a bit of Lily Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Except different because Ireland is the opposite of a desert. ;) Up the trails, monastery remains find peace, and farther yet, a famous pilgrimage place stands from an old monastery. Like old as in Viking times old. Wowza.

The monastery has a large grave site, many of the stones super old. However, people who own burial plots have been recently buried there, so there's an interesting mix.

After green Glendolough, we hopped back on thee bus and headed to thee jail in Wicklow. I didn't know until we got there, but this was a historical jail now made very touristy. If you've ever been to thee Tower of London, it's much like the torture chambers, but way better. This jail was run by the Brits, who were very nasty, who tortured the Irish. During the Irish famine, the jail was very crowded because people were desperate and stole. The crimes could be minuscule and would still come with harsh punishment. Many people were sent to America to work. You may think that seems like a luxury. I did, too for a second. But this was all before we gained independence. The mean English then stopped sending Irish prisoners to America, and shipped them to Austrslia instead, where they would never return to their homes again. If they weren't shipped off, they were kept in the grimy jail.

The jail had harsh conditions, such as torture, disease, bad labour conditions, abuse, rape, whippings, the whole 9 yards. This place was one of the most interesting places so far, but also thee creepiest. There were a few toddlers in there with families that scared me half to death because I didn't see them and they made a noise or snuck up on me. They just laughed at me when I jumped. That's not uncommon for me unfortunately. The oldest prisoner was 90, and the youngest was 11. Just imagine. This was also around the time when the Irish started a rebellion to break away from the Brits. Man, those Brits kept everyone down.

That was the size of the cells. When crowded, about 12 people were jammed into a room. Men, women and children. Also, there was no special treatment for women or children--everyone endured hell.

One punishment if the guards didn't like you or you caused trouble in jail, would be to basically walk on a hamptster wheel. FOR FIVE HOURS.

Very cool place.

After that, Kayla and I went to a small cafe called Donelli's in Wicklow. We had a "pick me up panini" (that's what it was actually called; it had some sort of chicken and mozzarella in it).

Lots of pictures today! But I won't apologize. After that, we went to the Heritage Park in Wexford. It was replicas and a tour of some of the oldest findings in Ireland of ancient civilizations, such as the Vikings.