Ireland: Part 4

On our free day we hired a driver with the Huntons and headed out to see the Irish countryside.  It was beautiful! There are a lot of pictures here, but I had so many that were worth posting.

On our way out, the driver stopped at this location that had a beautiful view of the Irish Sea and Dalkey Island. The island is uninhabited today, but it still has remains of original inhabitants dating back to the stone age.

More views of the Irish Sea.

SO beautiful!!

 We drove out to a place called Powerscourt Gardens.
The current house was completed in 1741. Where it stands was once a 13th century medieval castle owned by the Le Power family.

Behind the house is a huge beautiful garden.

There are views of the nearby Wicklow Mountains

The first area you see is known as the Italian Garden.

There are trails you can follow that lead to more wooded areas. It is so big, we didn't even get to see it all.

There is a Pet's Cemetery where the pets of the Wingfield and Slazenger families are buried.

This colorful area is known as the Japanese Garden

We saw this friendly guy on our way out.

Next we went further out into the countryside.

All the little white spots are sheep.

I know this is a terrible picture! I took it through the window while we were driving.

We were running a little tight on time because we had to be back for dinner, so we didn't have time to stop. I wanted to take a picture though, because this area was where part of the movieBraveheart was made.

More sheep:)..........

This is the River Liffey, near it's origin.

I've always heard that Ireland was beautiful and we were not disappointed.

We were so grateful for the opportunity to go!