Sunday on Valentia Island

We have been hoping to get to Valentia Island for a while, but the weather hasn’t been cooperating. We finally made it on Sunday and it was a wonderful day.

We began at the Skellig Museum, where we learned about the history of the Skellig Islands, particularly Skellig Michael. Loosely translated, the Irish “skellig” means “rock in the sea.” Skellig Michael is named for St. Michael and was first settled by monks in the 4th and 5th centuries. It continued to be used by monks until the 12th century, when the Augustinians began what we would now call a diocese on the mainland and men who wanted to be monks began opting for monasteries on the mainland rather than the harsh and isolated life on the island.

One of the exhibits in the museum showed monks building their beehive huts on the island.

Here’s Nora working the communication system used by the lighthouse workers on Skellig Michael until 1987, when the lighthouse became automated.

After the museum we stopped for ice cream at Valentia Ice Cream Shop, run by a very nice family whose cows provide the milk for the homemade ice cream. Yummy!

Valentia Lighthouse was our next stop.

This stop was a little disappointing. The tourist info said there were tracks from what is believed to be the earliest tetrapod to go from water to land, some 380 million years ago. It was a long climb for a just a couple of footprints in the rock, even the dinosaur lovers in the group were a little disappointed.

The view was worthwhile, though.

Further up the same hill we visited the Grotto.

It was at the back of an active quary that has supplied slate for some famous buildings, such as the British House of Parliament and a famous duke’s palace. Way up in an alcove in the rock is a replica of the statues of Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette from Lourdes, France.

Final stop on our island tour was Geokaun Mountain; the highest point on Valentia Island. It had 360 degree views. The drive to the top was so steep that we had to go the whole way in first gear.

The lighthouse from the top of the mountain.

The view was truly spectacular!

Skellig Islands in the distance

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We headed back down to the bottom of the hill, around to the other side of the island, and over the bridge to Portmagee for a very late lunch. It was an amazing day and we were so glad we went to Valentia Island!