On our first trip to Ireland, we saw our first round tower at Turlough, just outside of Castlebar in County Mayo. Standing proud on the top of a cemetery ridge, it was visible for quite some distance. That it had survived for well over 800 years was incredible to me. Even knowing that it's conical stone cap had been replaced, it was amazing that the structure hadn't been blown down, blown apart by lightning, succumbed to battles of all sorts, or cleared away by overzealous local government trying to protect the public from what could be considered a safety hazard. More amazing still was the quality of workmanship in such a tall structure and that it hadn't been defaced by grafitti, or chipped at by bored local youths over hundreds of years. The fact that I was looking at a tower that was essentially the same as it had been when it was built was fascinating, and has fascinated me ever since.   - K. Schorr