dublin 05: malahide castle.

A new day means a new destination to go to. Today we're going to Malahide.



It is the home to the famous Malahide Castle. The castle was built in the 12th century. The castle was closed temporarily for a major renovation. Luckily for us it had just recently been reopened to the general public.




The scenery will be very nice I'm sure.




The town of Malahide. Nothing fancy, a couple of restaurants and bars by the roadside, a flower shop and also a convenience store.




It reminds me of Bukit Pasir in Muar actually in kind of a bizarre way.



Maybe its the thin roadside and the shoplots nearby. It's a nice little town.




Like always, mom goes all giggly looking at this.




These are all real flowers in case you're wondering.




They have a Japanese Cuisine restaurant here I see. There's one in Henry Street, Dublin called Yamamori which people say is edible for Muslims. I didn't eat there though in all of my days in Ireland..




Bars are a very common sight in Dublin, they are everywhere.




Let's get to the castle shall we? The sun is shining right above us.




This is the walkway towards the castle. The guards nearby say it will take a 5 minutes walk to get there.

To the left are acres and acres of lush grass field all clean and nicely maintained. Not even an inch of litter visible.

The fine weather, coupled with this type of scenery is perfect for an afternoon picni, as evidenced by these 3 elderly ladies. They gave a very nice smile as we walked past them.




A squirrel!




The squirrel was friendly an cooperative at first. After that maybe it was due to me getting too close to it, it just ran off as fast as lightning....




Towards this tree, and out from sight. A bummer, was hoping to get more photos of it. Oh well.

We continued on to an almost half-forest, half-orchard like walkway. The walk was very, how should I say it - absorbing.




I just feel like wanting to walk as slowly as possible to let all this scenery soak in into my mind. Permanently.

That is Malahide Castle right there. Even though it was built in the 12th century, certain additions like the 2 rounded tower were built later on giving the castle a fairy-tale like appearance.




I've read that the cost of maintaining this castle alone is over 1 million Euro annually.




The castle belongs to the Talbot family lineage. The lineage had ceased though as in 1690, all 14 members of the family died in a war called the Battle of the Boyne.

The story was all 14 of them had breakfast together, but none came back for supper the same day. It was tragic.

What is left of their legacy is the castle. We didn't go inside for a guided tour.




Time to go home. We're taking the trail through the park again.




I just love seeing all these autumn leaves just laying here on the ground.




Many middle school kids are travelling through this trail. It's evening now so it is a good bet that they had just finish school. Many where walking, some like in this picture were travelling with their bikes.

We are waiting for the bus. 5 minutes left according to the Dublin Bus app.




The trip home was nice. It was fun hearing these kids having conversation with one another. They talk about school, girlfriends, wrestling, videogames and football.




It reminded me of the time when I was still in middle school.




Maybe I should take a trip down the memory lane. I'll tell you all about it on the next entry. The next one will be the finale for this journey as well.