Glendalough, “the valley of two lakes,” is a popular tourist destination in Wicklow County, just a stone’s throw away from Dublin. If you google Glendalough, you’ll see tons of pictures of an old monastic site with a tall pointed tower, gray roofless buildings, and a graveyard with Celtic crosses. The site, which dates back to the 6th century, is absolutely out of this world. Ancient. Mysterious. Picturesque. But Glendalough has more to offer. In this post, I want to share our 2-day trip to Glendalough (which should have lasted longer!). First, the monastic site. A picture is worth a thousand words. Enjoy. Classical photo of the monastic site. This is what you see when you enter. Leaning tombstones Celtic crosses More tombstones and crosses, with spectacular landscapes in the distance Another classical photo of the monastic site Priest's House (12th century) Most tourists come to Glendalough for 30 minutes, walk among the tombstones and leave....
I like Estonia. It feels like home. I’ve been several times, which is why my last trip was entirely devoted to places off the beaten track . In this post, I want to talk about my day in the vicinity of the Jagala Waterfall , which is just a stone’s throw away from Tallinn. The goal of the day was actually to find a movie location , but visiting the Jagala Waterfall and the vicinities makes a great day trip even if you couldn’t care less about the movie. The idea goes back years ago, when a student told me about visiting a movie location of “ Stalker ” ( a 1979 Soviet movie by Tarkovsky ). This information had lingered at the back of my mind for years waiting for the right moment, which came in July 2017. A part of the movie was shot inside an abandoned hydropower station near the Jagala Waterfall. The power station was what we wanted to find. Pinpointing it on the map took some stubborn research, but I succeeded. I will put the location and ways to get there at the e...