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About My Travels Ireland

The Skellig Islands– a UNESCO Site

On a recent trip to Ireland we spent a very wonderful week exploring the County Cork area.
One day we started out to visit Skellig Michael, arrived at the Visitor Center but the seas were to rough and the boat to the island was not able to make the trip. We did get to view the islands from the shore. Look up the websites listed below to learn about the long history of the island and why Great Skellig was designated a UNESCO Site.

The two Skellig Islands
The Skellig Islands as seen from a beautiful Ireland view point

“The Skellig Islands (Irish: Na Scealaga), once known as the Skellocks, are two small, steep, and rocky islands lying about 13 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. They are famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Little Skellig

The smaller island is Little Skellig (Sceilig Bheag in Irish). It is closed to the public, and holds Ireland’s largest and the world’s second-largest Northern Gannet colony, with almost 30,000 pairs. It is about 1.5 km east-northeast of Great Skellig.
Great Skellig

Also known as Skellig Michael (Sceilig MhichĂ­l in Irish), this is the larger of the two islands, with two peaks rising to over 230 m above sea level. With a sixth-century Christian monastery perched at 160 m above sea level on a ledge close to the top of the lower peak, Great Skellig is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skellig_Islands
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/757
http://www.skelligsrock.com/history.htm

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