Adventures on the DART

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

The DART (which ironically stands for 'Dublin Area Rapid Transit') goes two directions: north towards Howth and Malahide, or south towards Bray and Greystones. A few weeks ago I blogged about a day trip we took to Howth. That was actually our second trip to Howth and we have visited Malahide a couple of times, so we have 'north' pretty well covered. The furthest south we have ever been on the DART is Dun Laoghaire (pronounced 'dun leery'), so today since the weather was nice we decided to check out Bray. It was about a 30-40 minute trip, so not too bad, although rapid it was not.

We got there around lunch, so first on the agenda was to find food. There's a strand that runs along the beach, so we wandered down that way. I imagine on a warm day it is heaving with people. There are lots of ice cream stands, chippers, and even a brand new arcade. We were pretty happy to discover that there's a Porterhouse in Bray. Who knew?? They also had a beer festival on at the moment, so the beer selection was even better than usual. Here's a shot of the strand:

After lunch we wandered down the beach towards Bray Head:

There's a coastal/cliff walk that you can take all the way to Greystones. We didn't have time to do that today, but we're definitely going back to do this. Also, if you click on the picture you'll see a cross at the top of Bray Head. There were a bunch of people up there, but again, we didn't have time to do this. I imagine the views are amazing from up there! Please note it was about here that I announced that someone's smoking the ganja somewhere. Turns out it was a man out taking a stroll with his young daughter and they were pretty much standing right next to us. Classy. Wes was afraid he was going to beat us up since he heard my announcement. I told him if he couldn't take on a guy who's stoned then he really has no hope in a fight. But I digress....

After we ditched the stoner, we decided to walk part way up Bray Head to enjoy the views. Of course we had to take the prerequiste picture first. Notice we don't have scarves on. The weather is really coming along here in Ireland!

Here are some scenic shots:

This one is looking north towards Dalkey. That land mass far in the distance is Howth.

Bray in the foreground wtih the Wicklow Mountains behind it. Honestly, you couldn't catch a bad view in this town. If you looked one way it was the sea, the other way was the mountains. Gorgeous!

After enjoying the sea views we walked up into the town. This building used to be the town hall. Now it's a McDonald's.I suppose we should just be happy they haven't torn it down!

There's a lot of Victorian architecture in the town. This is from a street near the centre of the town. If you're looking for a place to stay there's the Bray Head Inn which looks like something directly out of Fawlty Towers or a horror movie if it's night time. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it. Next time! Next time I'll also be more vocal about getting a 99 Flake. I think everyone was eating one but me! :(