Today, we had another excursion day and took the bus to Kilkenny, Wiklow Mountains, a family sheep farm in Glendalough. Similar to other places in Ireland that we visited, tourism was the main business that kept the towns, farms, natural sites, etc alive and surviving in the economy.
We first drove to the family sheep farm. I was sad that we were not allowed to touch the animals; however it was interesting to see the loyalty of the animals to each other and their owner. The sheep dog, Bruce, followed every direction of his owner and herded the sheep for the audience/tour groups. It was very impressive how well Bruce was trained. In addition, the owner told us their history and how their main source of income used to be the wool business; however that rapidly declined and now he has to be a part-time farmer because he can’t sustain his family other wise. It is sad to see that a family tradition has decreased a little bit in terms of the wool business, but the owner was positive that he said “even though that door closed, another one opened and it was tourism”. I think tourism industry is helping a lot of traditions and archives of Ireland alive.
After visiting the sheep herding farm, we went to see the two lakes at Glendalough. It was again, another breathtaking view of Ireland. The water was extremely clear and I could tell the air was very clean. After, we headed to a cute small town called Kilkenny. There, we started by looking at the famous castle then headed for lunch in a cafe. It was very laid back day at Kilkenny. It seems as though Kilkenny is also run mainly by tourism.
Today felt more laid back than any other excursion days but it was still eventful. Class resumes again tomorrow after 4 days of fun.