Skellig Michael - UNESCO World Heritage Site
Since my road trip to Ireland in 2006 I have a great sentiment for the green island. One of the most amazing places I have ever seen (till today) was Skellig Michael island off the coast of Co. Kerry. I have never heard about it before and only planned to see it because it was mentioned in my guide.
To get there you have to book a boat ride - in advance! And it won’t go in very windy or rainy weather as the boats are actually very small. We even got special suits to put over our clothes so we wouldn’t get soaking wet on the ride. I think it lasted about an hour, but my memory could be failing me in this case. What I remember is that we only had 45 minutes on the island as I would have loved to stay there but longer.
From afar the island already looks impressive. When you arrive, you face quite a bit of a hike up. There are rocky stairs and when it’s windy you feel like it might just about tear you away and throw you into the ocean. And then you get to the monastery. The views were breathtaking.
In the guide it was mentioned that the monastery was created at some point between the 6th and 8th century - just 200 years of variation. There were monks staying there till about 12th century and it has been abandoned since.
Definitely take your good camera - you won’t regret it!
Also for film fanatics: some parts of the recent Star Wars were filmed on Skellig Michael.
