Beautiful Day Trips

Hello everyone! It has been a LONG time since I blogged and I figured since I have more free time, I should get back at it and finish up documenting my travels. In this post, I have combined my day trips to Bray, Malahide and Powerscourt Estate into one. These places are not too far from Dublin but were just far enough to feel like a little escape from the bustling city.

The first one to Bray was back in April. I went with my wonderful friend Kate on a little day trip outside the city. Bray is called the "Brighton of Ireland," due to its wonderful beach and promenade (I went to the actual Brighton in England as well - see previous post!). We took the DART out to Bray, just like the Tube for Dublin but above ground, and were greeted with a lovely coastline and cute little seaside town. Our first order of business was to find the Killruddery House and Gardens, which was one of the staple things to see in Bray. After walking for about an hour, we finally found it and, let me tell you, it was worth it.

They had this most adorable farmers market there, every Saturday and Sunday, with goods from local producers and makers

Killruddery House and Gardens

If anyone has seen the movie Becoming Jane with Anne Hathaway, they use this house in the movie.

Most adorable lambs

Kate went frolicking in the Harry Potter-like maze of shrubs, deep within the grounds

They had the most wonderful tea room -  I love tea rooms so I was in heaven 

Then we moved on to the beach in Bray. It was very different than back home, given that the majority of it was rocks right up until the water, but it was super cool! They had these awesome coastal walks as well with some pretty incredible views. 

Overall, a very beautiful day.

The next little trip I took was to Malahide Castle. It is one of the most famous castles in Ireland and thankfully, it is only about 30 minutes outside Dublin. It was beautiful and everything I imagined it would be.

We got to tour the inside too - this castle is filled with lots of Irish history

They had these random peacocks just walking, freely, around the grounds. 

They also had an impressive walled garden

We did a quick stop to see the Howth Lighthouse.

The final little trip I did was to Powerscourt Estate. This had to be my favorite because rather than the actual estate, the gardens is what attracts thousands of people to visit. It was breathtaking. It is in the heart of the Wicklow mountains and such a picturesque place, you could spend hours exploring the grounds and not see everything. 

The estate from  a lower level of the gardens

Triton Lake

They have the only Japanese garden in Ireland

Overall, what I have discovered looking back on these little trips is that you don't have to go to extreme lengths to see all the "known" spots in a place. There is so much beauty all around, a lesson that I have taken back with me to the States and something that I will treasure forever.

xoxo,

Halle

p.s. so many pictures were not included as I am fond of taking thousands of pictures of the same thing, while convincing myself that they are all different. Check my Facebook page soon as I will be uploading more :)