Getting Out of Dodge

Wow. Getting out of the city was absolutely wonderful. With my first full day off, I was eager to get out of Dublin for a little bit. A group of us from the university hopped on the DART and took it south. The DART here in Dublin runs along the coast and I was so happy to see the Irish Sea. We got off at Dun Laoghaire and went to a little farmers market. Being that it was a Sunday the church bells were ringing, and with the sun shining, it was completely surreal. After a few minutes of meandering the market, we sat in the park and mapped out our route. Little did we know that we would be completely distracted by the beauty of the coastline to even care where we ended up. So, we walked along the coast for miles. I believe we ended up in a little town called Dalkey. Dalkey was beautiful; it reminded me a bit of Fredericksburg, but with castles. Imagine a town where every home had a name: Speranza, Watergate, Sea Side Cottage, and even San Antonio. After we stopped for lunch at a little cafe, we hiked up a gorgeous hill and looked out onto the sea. The sea was completely adorned with sailboats and swimmers. The Irish don't waste the sunshine! We didn't quite go all the way south. We opted to end our journey in Bray, have a drink and hop back in the train back to the city. We had to have walked ten miles yesterday, most of which was uphill, but can anyone argue that it wasn't worth it?

Bulloch Castle, Dalkey                                                                                    Dun Laoghaire

                                                                                      Dalkey