Little Skellig is the smaller of the islands. It is closed to the public and is a important bird sanctuary, home to the world’s second-largest Northern Gannet colony.

Skellig Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl in Irish), or Michael’s Rock is also known as Great Skellig. In the 6th or 7th Century, monks settled here to set up a monastery, drawn by its isolation and remoteness. The only area flat enough to build a monastery was high up on the North peak.

© Copyright Arian Zwegers and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Access to the monastery is by climbing a stone stair consisting of approximately 650 steps, which rises to 180m above sea level, built entirely by the monks who lived here.

In 1826 two lighthouses were also built on the island. The upper lighthouse was closed in the 1870s, but the lower lighthouse remained open and permanently staffed by three men (and sometimes their families). On the 22nd of April 1987 the lighthouse became fully automated, and the doors were finally closed after 161 years.

During WWII a US Navy Consolidated PB4Y-1 Liberator struck a peak of the island and crashed into the sea. The plane was never been recovered and all hands were lost.

Skellig Michael is managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW) who issue thirteen licences to boat operators to allow them to bring visitors to the island. You can watch Alice Roberts from the BBC show Coast on her visit to Skellig, or if you’re feeling adventurous, more info on travelling to the island is available on WikiTravel.

Locations: Ireland / Categories: Abandoned, Buildings, Islands, Natural Landmarks, World Heritage Sites

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No point in wasting time. Let’s get Spread Eagle and dive right in…

We hope this Naked Baker is at least wearing a hairnet.

Is there anyone in Southern California who’s up for a Nude Wash¹?

There are five different creeks in the southeastern United States that are Naked. Along Naked Creek in Virginia is Naked Creek Road, which happens to lie across the creek from Moose Bottom Road. What that symbolises, we have no idea.

Leave it to the Netherlands to take things to the next level. The city of Wageningen has an entire Nude street, replete with a Nude auto shop!

Our own Noel Ballantyne brings us this wonderful Muff from Country Donegal²:

Don’t worry, ladies; we’re keeping your interests in mind, too. In fact, we know a place in Sint Maarten specifically geared toward many of your tastes:

If all of this nakedness and nudity is a bit much for you to handle all at once, perhaps we should tone it down and focus on Ass Allround:

Not to get too lewd, but we did uncover a prominent Nipple Knob while compiling this entry. As well, we also caught a Wanker in broad daylight directly on Street View.

Thus concludes what is undoubtedly the most Sexey post ever on Google Sightseeing.

Locations: California, France, Germany, Idaho, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin / Categories: Buildings, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, Weirdness

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The countries receiving updated imagery are Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Additionally, there is brand new coverage of two of Britain’s Crown Dependencies, the Isle of Man, and Jersey.

Peel Castle, Isle of Man

Mont Orgueil, Jersey

Of particular interest in the United States, brand new imagery has been added throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego, taking in sights such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Staples Center, and USS Midway which are now shown in stunning high-resolution.

What can you find in the new imagery? Send us your finds via our suggestion form, or on Twitter, and we’ll post a roundup later in the week of your best finds!

Read the full story at the Google Latlong blog.

Locations: Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, North America, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom / Categories: Street Views

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Did they know Google were on their way?

This message on a Dublin beach, “CYNTHIA, WILL YOU MARRY ME?”, nearly passes our stringent rules for acceptance of aeroplane-visible marriage proposals, but did Cynthia accept?

Thanks to LancelotLink

We’re pretty sure this crop-maze in France depicts a couple of bananas riding bicycles, but we haven’t a clue why.

Thanks to Rod

In Argentina we find another strange design decision, where somebody has arranged a whole bunch of trees into a giant guitar. For some reason this seems more sensible than the cycling bananas, but only just.

Thanks to Mick

OK, a giant guitar we kind of get, but who on Earth would want a swimming pool shaped like a foot? Somebody in Japan apparently.

Thanks to Jamie

Crazy roads

This ridiculously bendy road in the mountains of Chile must surely be a contender for the most bends covering the shortest distance award. As the crow flies, obviously.

Thanks to Shaun

Meanwhile, we suspect these “speed bumps” would cause a little more slowdown than required on Interstate 91, Massachusetts. If you drove really fast at them however…

Thanks to Meredith

You’d never see this any other way

This chilling scene capture the remains of a wrecked boat on the shores of a remote Antarctic island.

Thanks to Brian

In the news

Last week Apple announced iCloud, a new “cloud”-based music and data service for all you squillions of iPad and iPhone users – and here’s the brand spanking new facility in North Carolina where all your data will be stored (once you’ve unquestioningly uploaded it all of course).

Elsewhere, the actions of some unruly New Zealand students made headlines around the world when they did what students have done since students were invented – they drew pictures of penises. Except these students did it on a much larger scale than your average students. Compensating for something boys?

Have you found something weird, amazing, beautiful or completely inexplicable on Google Maps or Google Earth? Send us your suggestions and we’ll publish the best ones next week!

Locations: Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, France, Ireland, Japan, Massachusetts, New Zealand, North Carolina / Categories: Abandoned, Large Type, Other Vehicles, Watercraft, Weirdness

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Carlsberg Brewery, Copenhagen

To start, we visit the quite ornate Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen, Denmark². The western gate tower is supported by four carved granite elephants, the symbol of the brewery. The Latin inscription above the gate means Let us work for our country.

Businessman J.C. Jacobson founded this brewery, which has become a major part of what is now a global brewing conglomerate. He named it after his son Carl, who – after a feud – started his own New Carlsberg company. Following the elder’s death the breweries merged under Carl’s leadership.

The elephants are each marked with an initial of one of Carl’s four children, as well as a swastika. This was originally seen as a symbol of luck based on its origin in eastern religions, though the brewery abandoned its use when it was adopted by the German Nazi party.

One thing I remember from my visit is that workers were allowed to help themselves to a beer any time during the day. They went on strike in 2010 when the company tried to regulate that consumption!

The eastern gate is also notable for the plaque describing Carl Jacobsen’s vision for the brewery, and the depictions of his family and important figures from the business. Learn more about this historic brewery at its official site.

St. James’s Gate Brewery, Ireland

Over to Ireland now, and one of the world’s best known brands – Guinness, and its original brewery St James’s Gate. The gate is marked ’1759′ – the year Arthur Guinness first made beer here, and when he signed a 9,000 year lease!

Once the world’s largest brewery, the plant occupies a huge area south of the river Liffey. Along Crane Street we can find both an attractive brewery gate and a slogan painted by conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner.

At the heart of the factory is The Guinness Storehouse visitor centre³. While it’s difficult to get a clear view of it from Street View, it does have a new glass atrium designed to resemble a pint of their famous beer.

Weihenstephan Abbey, Germany

While Street View is available in some German cities, it has not yet made it to Freising in Bavaria, where the Weihenstephan Abbey claims to be the world’s oldest operating brewery.

While there are records of hops being used at the monastery as early as the 8th century, it was granted an official license in 1040, meaning it will celebrate its thousandth anniversary just 3 decades from now!

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe, Belgium

A different group of monks created one of my personal favourite beers, Leffe. It’s no longer made at the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Leffe⁴ in Dinant, Belgium, though a revitalised religious community there does offer tours of the building, and there’s also a nearby museum.

Bragdy Gwynant, Wales

And finally, just to prove that size isn’t everything⁵, how about the world’s smallest brewery? The title is claimed by Bragdy Gwynant in Wales – basically a tiny shed where real ale is brewed for the Tynllidiart Arms pub next door!

We’d love to hear from our readers – post a comment with a link to the location of your personal favourite brewery or brewpub!

Locations: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Wales / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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Construction of the 121m tall Spire took place in late 2002 and early 2003. It’s actually an elongated cone, tapering from a base diameter of 3m to just 15cm at the top.

Forty four individual steel plates were forged to specific dimensions then precision welded into eight sections. Each section was given a perfect finish in a custom-made polishing machine, before undergoing shot peening – repeated blasting with metal balls¹ to create a less reflective surface.

The bottom ten metres of the Spire are etched with a pattern based on a core sample drilled at this location before it was built. A protective coating was digitally plotted onto this section before the shot peening process, leaving the original polished surface intact.

The uppermost section of the Spire is perforated to allow decorative lighting to be seen at night. An internal drain collects rainwater which enters through the holes.

Also near the top is a tuned mass damper system intended to prevent the Spire from swaying precariously in high winds. Despite this the top can still move up to 1.5m in any direction! An internal ladder climbs two-thirds of the height of the structure to allow technicians to access this system if it needs maintenance – a climb we imagine would be rather nerve-wracking and claustrophobic!

The Spire of Dublin was built on the former location of Nelson’s Pillar, a monument which was destroyed by former IRA members in 1966. Since then O’Connell Street had been in commercial decline. An end-of-the-millennium project saw a number of modifications to the businesses along the street, as well as the tree- and statue-lined median. The tower was intended to be the centrepiece of a revitalised street, though reactions have been mixed².

Learn more about the Spire of Dublin at Wikipedia, and the two companies responsible for its construction: Radley Engineering and SIAC.

Locations: Ireland / Categories: Monuments, Shadows, Street Views, Towers

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Like The Burren, which we recently featured, the Aran Islands are of karst formation and are covered by thousands of pieces of limestone. To make the land usable, this stone has been gathered and used to create 1600 km of walls and some fantastic forts, churches and castles.

Inis Mór

Inis Mór is the largest of the 3 Islands, but not fully covered by good resolution. It has a permanent population of about 900, and was the location for the 1933 film Man of Aran, depicting the life of the Islanders prior to the 1930′s.

The island’s real name is Árainn na Naomh or Aranmore, but was renamed by the British Ordnance Survey in the mid 1800s, to avoid confusion with Aranmore off the coast of Donegal.

Dun Aonghasa is a massive fort perched on the cliff top that, due to erosion of the cliff, is only a faction of the size that it once was. Built about 2200 years ago, the remaining site encloses 6 hectares (14.82 acres) and its heavily-restored walls are 6m high (18 feet)

There are 3 sets of walls and, outside of those, a layer of chevaux de frise: a defense line of stones laid at different angles to slow attackers. Sadly, this fort is not visible in Google Earth, but can be viewed on Ordnance Survey Ireland’s Website.

Photos by Galway.net, The Heritage Council and Richard Jensen

Another cliff-top fort similar to Dun Aonghasa is Dún Duchathair (Black Fort). Again only parts of the fort remain, its walls are 6m high and 5m thick.

At the highest point of the island is the island’s first lighthouse. Built in 1818, it only operated until 1857 and was replaced by lighthouses at either end of the Aran Islands.

Nearby is Dún Eochla, a 2-walled fort with a hut built inside. Its inner walls are 5m high and 3m thick, and was built between 550AD and 800AD.

Inis Meáin

Inis Meáin, the middle island, has a permanent population of about 160 and has 2 stone forts: Dún Chonchúir (Conors Fort), which was built with an estimated 14,000 tons of stone, and the later-built, square-shaped Dún Fearbhaí which overlooks the harbour.

Inis Oírr

Inis Oírr is the eastern and smallest island of the three. It has a permanent population of about 250, but increases to many times this during the tourist season.

O’ Briens Castle was built in the 14th Century was the scene of many battles for dominion of the islands. A signal tower built in 1804-1806 was part of a defense chain along the Irish coast at the time.

Close to the tower is the island’s first school. The story goes that the landlord of the island was forced by law to donate land to provide education on the island and begrudgingly picked the highest point on the island.

And finally, anybody familiar with the TV series Father Ted should recognise the island from the opening sequences of the show, which features the Plassey shipwreck and shots of the island.

Locations: Ireland / Categories: Abandoned, Buildings, Islands, Movie Locations, Natural Landmarks

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The recent release of Street View images from Ireland allow us to get a close-up look at the beauty of this barren scenery¹.

Technically one of Europe’s largest karst landscapes – rock features formed by the action of water – the region is dominated by elevated limestone pavements and domes and stark rocky plateaus.

Even the lower fields are more rock than soil and grass, unless the rocks have been painstakingly cleared and used in dry stone walls.

There are numerous historic locations in the Burren, most notably Poulnabrone Dolmen – a 2m high neolithic portal tomb which dates to somewhere between 3000 and 4000 BC. It is some distance from the road but we do get a distant look on Street View.

When I was there some years ago the tomb was surrounded by a herd of cows and getting close involved ignoring dire warning signs that you were trespassing. Thankfully it now appears to be officially open to the public, with a car park and a path with interpretive signs.

There are also the ruins of several ring forts, including the cliff-top Cahercommaun and Caherconnell.

There are many lovely villages² scattered in and around the Burren, including Kilfenora, which has a Burren visitor’s centre and a 12th century Cathedral featuring a number of high crosses in a newly-roofed area.

Locations: Ireland / Categories: Abandoned, Buildings, Monuments, Natural Landmarks, Street Views

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So where were you the day the circus came to town? Here’s a small collection of Irish highlights that we haven’t already posted.

It’s well known that Ireland is an ancient place, so old that they still have dinosaurs alive and well outside Coolaney, Co. Sligo, and a dragon in Goatstown, Dublin. So far there haven’t been any confirmed sightings of leprechauns, but they’re still an important part of the heritage.

Ireland is known for its changeable weather, so all credit is due to the Street View drivers for going out driving in the snow, freezing fog, and presumably the rain too, judging by the protective covering over the camera in certain places (although to be fair it was mostly sunny).

The drivers covered up to 80,000km from Mizen head in the south to the most northerly point, Malin head.

Ireland is also known for its poets, actors and musicians.

WB Yeats, Richard Harris, and Phil Lynott

Ireland is sometimes seen by the outside world as a little backward, and there are also a few oddities around like concrete boats, and what looks like an intact dinosaur ribcage.

As many of you may know Ireland’s Celtic Tiger is gone and but its physical embodiment has been spotted on the loose in Dublin.

The same day of the launch of Street View in Ireland, the other headline news was about the state of the Irish banking system. Here are some examples of the many ghost housing estates, hotel developments and even unfinished bank buildings that now blight the country.

Not all is doom and gloom however – young folks still find time for some on-camera romance.

It’s great to finally have Ireland represented on Street View, but if Google were going to bother driving most of the county’s roads in cars equipped with GPS, perhaps they should have updated the roads layer at the same time?

More accurate maps might have helped avoid situations like this one – try moving forwards or backwards on this street…

If Google do come back to fix some of the issues, maybe the lads of Ireland will get to show off their arses some more!

Locations: Ireland / Categories: Abandoned, Animals, Bridges, Natural Landmarks, Other Vehicles, Street Views

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As it’s Google Sightseeing’s Fifth Annual Island Week, Google have kindly added a small amount of Street View for the tiny island known as “Half Moon” in Antarctica¹, where we can marvel at a huddle of wild penguins!

The second new addition is far-reaching coverage for the large island of Ireland, with over 80,000km of road covered.

Lastly, we have Street View images for Brazil, which I doubt you’ll believe is also an island? Instead, consider this: Woo-Yeah! Carnival time!

Spotted anything funny or odd on the new Street View images? Let us know either via the form or with a tweet.

Locations: Antarctica, Brazil, Ireland / Categories: Street Views

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