Wedding Shopping & Castle Views
We had a bank holiday weekend here in Ireland which means no work on Monday! With the advantage of the day together, Killian took me up to Malahide. It's a village in northern Dublin. Very quaint with lots of little shops.
Many many moons ago (it seems like), Sara asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding this October. For those of you who haven't been around very long, Sara was my house-mate in Ireland the first time I lived here in 2014. She's the one who inspired me to live abroad. After all, she is getting married and moving to Denmark to be with her sweetheart!
I was having a lot of trouble finding a dress that was wedding appropriate. I needed a short, black, formal dress. Most dresses either fit a work dress code or were very short. Nothing was fitting the bill. I would search in stores anytime I was out, and look online off and on as new stock came in. Finally, I found a boutique in Dublin that had some really gorgeous dresses. They were a little bit above my budget, but I was so desperate to see if I could find even something on sale that I looked through their whole website. Nearly at the end of their selection, I found this gorgeous dress that was exactly what I was looking for. Next step: try on.
I was excited to find that the shop was located in Malahide called Cari's Closet. I've not spent much time up north (save for Glasnevin, where I worked). And Malahide Castle is just down the road! So we made a day of it. The dress ended up working perfectly. It fit extremely well and was a great length. You'll have to stay tuned for the wedding in October to see the front!
After purchasing the dress we went down the road to the castle. From the parking lot there's a short walk through a large park and around the back up to the castle. The first section that you come across is the abbey. One of my favourite things about Ireland. Abbeys everywhere! Unfortunately, this one wasn't accessible by the public so views were limited.
Sections were slightly overgrown with headstones tucked into the greenery. But it was still very well maintained (from what was visible).
From there, the path takes you around the back of the abbey and along to the back of the castle.
Just look at that door! Let's get a closer peek....
And next to it, another awesome door! Is that a thing? Castle doors? I know I loved the doors in Italy. And post boxes... Maybe that's just one of my architectural obsessions.
The path takes you up past the side of the castle towards the front. There's so many huge, gorgeous trees and a lovely hidden staircase (see below, this lady was loving it for a decent amount of time)
Finally you get to the front of the castle. Gorgeous! All along the front of the grounds is mostly just pathways and a huge lawn. Nothing exciting. The gardens are all in other sections of the grounds, but those can only be accessed as a part of the tour, which you have to purchase as an in-castle and gardens thing together. For as small as the castle is, the price was pretty steep, so we vetoed going in. But honestly, it was a nice time just to view the free parts.
I'm so glad to have another Dublin to-do checked off my list. There's nothing as good as a castle close to home.