Towns of Malahide, Howth and Dun Laoghaire

Over the weekend we did some sight-seeing trips to seaside towns near Dublin.

Here is a map showing the east coast and the towns of Malahide, Howth and Dun Laoghaire that we went to.



Malahide
First we went to Malahide. Malahide has a small town centre with shops, pubs, restaurants and a lovely big, old hotel called the ‘Grand Hotel’. There is also a marina with modern flats built around it, which reminded me a lot of Hythe Marina Village.

We went to a lovely old pub called ‘Gibneys’ for some lunch. The pub is divided into 7 different lounge areas, some with their own fireplaces. We managed to get a table right next to a lovely roaring fire – it was another very cold day. The food was very enjoyable and reasonably priced.

Howth
After Malahide, we took a drive to Howth (remember, rhymes with both)– which is another seaside town we explored a few weeks ago. We took a drive up to the top of the mountain and had a view across Dublin Bay. We had some lovely fish 'n chips to eat which we got from a shop at Howth harbour.

Unfortunately I don’t have many photos – it really was too cold for all that! (If you don’t believe me, we woke up on Sunday to a layer of snow! Where is spring?).


This is a view from the top of the mountain across the bay.

Dun Laoghaire

The following day we took a trip south of Dublin to Dun Laoghaire.

Dun Laoghaire is the Gaelic (Irish language) name for the town, pronounced phonetically as ‘Doon Layer-eh ‘.It can also be pronounced in its English form as ‘Dun Leary’.

Laoghaire was a 5th century (around 480 AD) High King of Ireland, who chose the site as a sea base from which to carry out raids on Britain. Dun is an Irish word meaning fort

Like Howth, Dun Laoghaire began as a small fishing village, but since the 19th Century, it became part of the sprawling suburbs of Dublin.

The harbour, one of the largest in the country, has a ferry port which links Dublin with Holyhead in North Wales. The harbour was built to provide a refuge for ships headed for Dublin as entry to the river Liffey could take awhile and gale force winds and rough seas would shipwreck them before they could reach their destination. When King George IV visited the new port under construction in 1821, the name Dun Laoghaire was dropped in favour of the name ‘Kingstown’; the town returned to its former name in 1921 – a year before Irish Independence.


I have 'borrowed' this photo to show you the harbour.


This is one I took which is across the sea, looking at Howth - where we had our fish 'n chips at the top of the mountain.