Coastal Trip

The sea is something that is strange to see having been living in the south of Poland for so long. In Dublin the vast blue Irish sea is not too far away and Dalkey island is a place I had never been to. The coastal areas of Dublin are very different from anything in the city. Places like Dalkey and Blackrock are like small villages with their own unique atmospheres. Dalkey especially is a place I had never been to before but only heard about as it is famous for being where Bono lives or at least has a house. My brother and I took the train (DART) out there and a boat to the island which contains the ruins of a tower built in preparation of an attack by Napoleon which never materialised. It is also the home to the ruins of a 7 - 10 th century church and another fortress. Goats live there as well as many squawking seagulls. I didn't venture too close as they were well armed.
The weather was also amazing. It's amazing that I get sunbrnt here and not in Europe. Fortunately I used suncream beforehand and only suffered from a small strip of sunburn near my wrist.

Driving to Ruin

I spent the weekend in Wexford in the 'sunny southeast' as they call it. Between my brother and my dad, we managed to explore some of the forgotten treasures in this part of the country. There were so many crumbling abbeys and castles and some of the houses appeared looked like they were abandoned after the famine of 1847. We were discussing this and wondering when we actually found some evidence of this.
Other highlights were walking along the beach and visiting a fort which had a lot of history connected to it from the rebellious Irish past right up to it being prepared in case Hitler attempted to invade Ireland. It was nice to get out of the big smoke and into the sticks for a bit of adventure.

Back with the Leprechauns

It has been a while since I wrote anything here and I suppose it needed a change of surroundings to inspire new thoughts which I feel like sharing with the world out there. My brothers obsession has moved on from abandoned factories to abandoned castles and other such ruins. It has also taken hold of my parents so my first day back involved tracking down such old bricked ruins some of which are amazingly right next to housing estates.
Of course there were the usual 'Private Property' signs but how can people own such places which are part of our cultural heritage?
Walls and fences were scaled enabling us to snap away at such of these eerie buildings which have long since fallen into neglect. The best preserved is a lead mine which was only missing a few steps and this was perhaps to deter stupidity.
We probably traipsed on numerous graves in the process of adding to our photographic archives but at least these people will be remembered in more ways than one.