If you are a Star Wars fan you might want to watch for Skellig Michael Island. Monastic settlements, evidenced by the stone beehive huts (clochain in Irish) at the island’s summit, are believed to date as far back as the 6th century. Historians tell of the monks who built the monastic site, walking the 600 plus steps daily to the water’s edge where they would fish for their breakfast. It must have been an extreme and ascetic existence, and yet the monks lived here right through to the 13th century when it is thought that the worsening weather drove them to move to Ballinskelligs on the mainland.
Today, the huts are still lashed by the weather, and visitors must climb the 600 steps to reach them today. Below is a video of Skellig Michael. The scenery is beautiful. The coverage of the monastic buildings begins around the four minute mark.
