Walls of the Monastery at Skellig Michael

Walls of the Monastery at Skellig Michael

I have seen photos of the monastery at Skellig Michael but I didn’t know how the overall structure looked like. It turned out that the monastery looks not unlike a fortress. This fortress seems to be designed to keep away the elements beginning with the wind. What I immediately noticed here is how the wind seems to be less powerful here. I believe the walls are partly to thank for that. The monks made use of the local topography to take the worst out of the wind the top of the island as a shield against the wind. The walls take care of the rest.

Overlooking the Walls at Skellig Michael

Looking at the rest of the walls, it seems the there are other levels here. I see stairs but I couldn’t figure out how to get there. Maybe they were blocked off for visitors. I can’t tell what some of the structures were for. It sees like the monks carved the monastery out of rock. It is not surprising they had so much rock to make walls that high. From here one can also see Little Skellig, which is the second of the Skellig Islands. We didn’t stop there but one can admire it from here. I think Skellig Michael looks much like it from afar.

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