Base City: Dublin

Accommodations: Abbey Court Hostel

Transportation: DART train (30 minutes)

June 22: Malahide and Howth

If you're looking for a short day trip that doesn't require extensive planning while you're in Dublin, I would highly recommend Malahide and Howth. Both are a short train ride away and offer a different take on Irish culture than the metropolitan area of Dublin—plus, Howth is right on the sea, and you can't beat the cliffside views!

We took the DART train nearest our hostel, which we had a little trouble finding since it was kind of on a side street, and met a very nice visually impaired man and his guide dog. It was inspiring to see the bond they shared and to witness the ways the man adapted to his limited vision by doing things such as listening to the ticks of his watch. Eventually, we had to part ways as he boarded his train, but the next was ours!

Malahide was our first stop, where we had our sights set on a medieval castle. Signs pointed us straight from the train station to Malahide Castle, and we followed them up a winding path and through a park until we reached a modern glass building. There, we bought our tickets for the guided tour of the castle (unfortunately, that tour is the only way you can see inside it and access the grounds), and with about fifteen or twenty minutes to wander, we chose to explore the gardens on the castle grounds.

We had an impromptu Alice in Wonderland-esque photoshoot and then, in an ironic turn of events, we genuinely got lost trying to find the entrance to the castle, as all of the access points were locked gates except the one back at the start where we'd come through. Running back around the other side of the castle, we rushed inside in the nick of time as the guide started talking. 

Malahide Castle dates to 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the "lands and harbour of Malahide." It was then home to the Talbot family for the next 791 years, until 1975. The last remaining Talbot, Rose (who you can see as a little blonde girl in the painting below), sold the property to the Irish State and died in 2012. The house is a mixture of every century, medieval to modern—see the secret passageway built into a medieval wall, the Venetian fireplace procured on a European tour when those were still in fashion, and the more modern rooms used by Rose herself. 

Rose sold the castle after her brother's death. He was a botanist who went on many travels to exotic lands and brought back plant specimens that he wanted to study. He planted them in vast gardens that are still on the property today. There is also a lovely butterfly sanctuary to wander in for a while. 

After realizing that we might miss the next train to Howth, we dashed back to the station (a bit too quickly—that'd be my fault) and actually arrived well before the train was going to leave. We wanted to get to Howth fairly early, as our main event for the day was hiking.

The first matter of business in Howth was to find lunch. We walked towards the harbor, starving by this point, and chose The Oar House. With delicious seafood to fortify us, we set off down the pier to take a look at the sea. There was a man taking a ferry out to the tiny island off the coast, and if we'd had more time, I definitely would have done that. Here, we also met a seagull friend who posed for pictures.

Then, we grabbed a map and started our hike. Marked trails span pretty much the entire surface of the peninsula of Howth, and we veered towards the cliffside trail that clung to the edge, where you could look out over the sea. The scenery was breathtaking, and it almost felt like being in another world with the thorny bushes and marbled cliffside underfoot, the aquamarine sea breaking on the rocks below. 

Unfortunately for us, our hike (which seemed somehow to be almost completely uphill) did not go as planned. We missed a marked path at some point on the way back to the train station, and, wandering through the heather hills with not another soul in sight, I did wonder at points if we would ever make it back or perhaps if we'd managed to walk straight home to Dublin. Eventually, I had to cave and use my emergency international plan's data to pinpoint us on Maps after a sketchy jaunt through an active stone quarry. 

We did, in fact, survive unscathed: feet sore, leg muscles burning, appetite for ice cream unquenched—but alive. As quickly as we could, we hopped back on the train to Dublin to get gelato and crêpes from Gino's before going to bed. The next adventure was approaching: Edinburgh, Scotland!

If you've missed any part of our adventure in Europe, go here! And don't forget to hit like down below!