A Big Day Out

While putting the finishing touches on the Frugal Guide, I was looking through the list of free (or cheap) Dublin-area attractions that I had yet to visit. I use "Dublin area" because most of these points of interest are well beyond the tourist-friendly City Centre and buried in Dublin's deepest suburbs. Weighing my options, I decided not to include most of these way-out-but-worthwhile attractions, thinking a normal tourist visit could still be called complete without them.

After continued research (and some local feedback), I decided to take a look at one such far-off sight, Farmleigh, and boy was I glad I did.

I'd heard it was a nice visit, with some great gardens and a (totally free) tour of the old estate house, once owned by the Guinness family, but now used for fancy-schmancy state functions. It sits just past the west end of Phoenix Park—the largest enclosed park in Europe, and already on the west edge of town. Practically, it really wouldn't be accessible for tourists on foot from City Centre, but there are ways to get there without too much trouble—or cost.

I noticed a walking tour scheduled to leave from the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre and proceed through the west end of the park to the gardens of Farmleigh, timed to end just as an interior tour of Farmleigh House would be kicking off. Figuring it would be perfect, I cycled the six miles to the middle of Phoenix Park—to find that the tour had been cancelled for an illness. Shoot.

Not to worry, as another tour of Ashtown Castle, the nearby medieval tower near the visitor centre, was starting shortly after I'd arrived. I took the opportunity to finally poke around the exhibits at the center, which had been closed the only other time I'd come for a tour, which had also been cancelled at the last minute.

The Duke of Ormond, the Mascot of Phoenix Park

I got a look at the displays about the Duke of Ormond, who originally set aside the land for the park as a royal deer hunting preserve. Today, his image is like a mascot for Phoenix Park, his red coat, curls, and hunting falcon showing up on many promotional materials for the park.

Next to the visitor center, the tower of Ashtown Castle Tower House overlooks the nearby sporting fields and the trees and trails of the park's center. I'd always enjoyed the mini hedge maze surrounding the tower, but found out that it is the floor plan of a much larger (and much newer) house that had been added to the original Norman stone fortress. Smartly, they tore down the plaster building and committed to preserving the old tower—viewable only by guided tour today.

Ashtown Castle Tower House

After checking out the (worth it!) Ashtown Castle, I cycled my way over to Farmleigh. Even though the tour from Phoenix Park wasn't running, the house tours were still running as scheduled. Conveniently, I arrived about ninety minutes before the next house tour—just enough time to enjoy a walk through the gardens.

Farmleigh House Facade

Dutch Sunken Garden

The Only Blooming Tulip on the Grounds

Those Victorians Loved them some Temples

The house tour was amazing, but no photos are allowed, so you'll just have to take my word for it. If you can get out there, Farmleigh is worth the trip, especially if you can get there by cycle through the southern part of Phoenix Park, which is how I made my way back home.

I took a nice ride through Furry Glen—with the sounds of One Direction blasting in my ears from a school outing at a nearby pavilion—and got a great shot of a strange, Dagobah-like landscape that doesn't look like it would be within Dublin City.

Mudhole? Slimy? My Home, This Is!

Thanks to a tip from my Ashtown Tower tour guide, I stopped at a rather obscure little marker on the southern edge of the park. Part of a small tomb centuries older than Newgrange and, by extension, the Pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge, Knockmaree Cist still overlooks the Liffey Valley just as it did in the Stone Age. When first excavated, it was part of a larger burial mound complex and contained the cremated remains of at least three individuals.

Knockmaree Cist

The deer that were the purpose for the founding of the park are still here, carefully managed and semi-wild. The herd mostly roams the open fields of an area called the Fifteen Acre, but I ran into this guy at close range on the southern park road.

Phoenix Park Fallow Deer

Elsewhere, and a bit less impressive than the ancient tomb and the deer, the Papal Cross built just for a visit from Pope John Paul II in 1979. More than a million worshippers swarmed the park to hear him speak from this purpose-built platform. Now, kids play soccer and hurling on the grounds that were cleared and flattened.

Papal Cross

The southern edge of the park is on a high hilltop overlooking the River Liffey and the Kilmainham and Islandbridge neighborhoods directly below, with a passable view of City Centre and the coast in the distance. This strategic position made some parts of the park important for military garrisons. One such installation is still standing, but is crumbling and unsafe.

The Magazine Fort's main purpose was to safely store ammunition and explosives for the British Army. Now, its gate is a great place from which to launch oneself down the steep hill on a skateboard, which is how I saw it being enjoyed on my day out.

Magazine Fort

Exhausted from such a thorough exploration of Dublin's far-west adventures, I pumped my way home. Look for a Farmleigh review over on Five Suitcases and a new update to the Frugal Guide with my new findings soon.

Blackrock Park

In South Dublin, a nice linear coastal park runs from the village of Blackrock to Boosterstown Wildlife Preserve. It isn't the largest park in Dublin, nor is it particularly packed with things to see and do, but it does have a nice uninterrupted walking and cycling path for commuters tired of the busy north/south suburban Dublin roads.

Blackrock Park Map

Martello Tower

When walking or cycling through the park, we found a rare un-fenced Martello Tower. These squat round towers line the Dublin Bay coastline, still keeping out Napoleon's invading forces... I guess. Many of them are privately-owned today and are surrounded by high fences.

Blackrock Park Walking and Cycling Path

One unlucky bit about the park is the DART line- Dublin's commuter train- running between the park and the sea along its entire length. I know the DART provides a valuable service, but it is tough to have to look through security fences at beautiful Dublin Bay beyond.

Thankfully, an overpass crosses the tracks in the park, allowing visitors access to the sea.

NO KITES!

The defining feature of the park is the lake- complete with a mini Greek temple on a small island. Benches ring the small, shallow lake, making it a nice place for neighborhood residents and commuters to sit a spell and feed the birds- which they shouldn't do!

Blackrock Park Temple

A number of other small oddities are leftover in the park from its Victorian beginnings. A now-vandalized bandstand used to draw large afternoon crowds, an old stone foundation marks where the shoreline used to be before this land was reclaimed and made a park, and this (much newer) seat carved from a tree stump.

Tree Stump Chair

Much, much, much more can be found in this thorough article from UCD. If you are interested in learning about the iron scrollwork on gates and benches, this is the article for you. 

If you just want a quiet place to relax or make your journey from Blackrock to Booterstown easier, take a stroll through this fantastic park.

Dublin Park(ing) Day 2014

When I can, I like to find interesting and unique (don't forget free!) community events happening around Dublin. I can't think of any more interesting, unique, or free event this year to rival Dublin Park(ing) Day.

The idea of Park(ing) Day began in San Francisco, but a number of other youthful and hip cities have become part of the project. The idea is simple: turn a bunch of parking places into mini public parks for one day.

In Dublin, more than twenty spots around City Centre were sponsored by local businesses and organizations. I was able to visit four of them during in a little loop around my side of town.

Tiny urban micro-parks set up today for @ParkingDayDub Pic: Green Design Build on Leeson. Map: http://t.co/wdIiOO3ylC pic.twitter.com/Y16RgyV5j2
— Cory Hanson (@HansonCory1) September 19, 2014

Green Design Build Park(ing) Day Park

Green Design Builders set up a park with the theme of their eco-construction business. They set out beds of sedum- a green roofing cover plant- for visitors to lay on and enjoy. I sat down and read for a while as cars blasted by. They were setting out the Go board when I had to head over to the next park on my list.

Sedum and a Potted Palm

In the busier St. Stephen's Green corner, several more parks were set up, but these were less chill-friendly and a bit more activist... Not that that's a bad thing. The mental health advocate group See Change had a mental health fairy tree, where passers-by could hang their messages and wishes. Just like the one in Marlay Park!

See Change Mental Health Fairy Tree

An urban farm project group had on display an astonishing selection of bizarre heirloom potato varieties, all grown in the city.

Scraggly Spuds

Last on my checklist was a potted-tree-lined mini park sponsored by the Irish political Green Party. They are campaigning for Dublin City Council to plant more trees in the more permanent public parks in the city. Sadly, their chairs were covered with giveaway swag, so I couldn't sit in the shade of a planter-grown tree.

Irish Green Party Trees

Thanks to the businesses and organizations who put in the time and effort to set up the parks this year, I hope to see many more of them next September!

Booterstown Wildlife Preserve

Dublin City, like any city, can be a grimy, loud, stinky, mess. Human settlements so often destroy the quiet, clean peace of the natural systems in favor of our own little conveniences and necessities like buildings and roads.

But Nature herself has her share of grimy, loud, and stinky ecosystems that are vital habitat for many species of plants and animals. In one such place, the Irish conservation board An Taisce has taken control of a rare coastal fresh-and-saltwater wetland to preserve it for the unique species living there.

It all starts at the Booterstown DART station in South County Dublin. Booterstown is a small neighborhood between the larger Merrion area to the north and Blackrock to the south. 

Booterstown Train Station

On the above embedded map, the marsh extends southeast from the train station along the tracks for (maybe) a half-mile. The marsh originally formed when the railway was built here in the 19th century to connect Dublin with nearby Dun Laoghaire. The railway was built on reclaimed land built with topsoil and sediment. When the railway engineers built up the railbed, water at high tide was still flooding this area. 

They built a water control system to keep this area dry. When it inevitably failed in the 20th century, saltwater began mixing with the fresh water springs that flow into the sea here. This created the unique salt marsh habitat right in the middle of the city.

An Taisce noticed that rare species of salt and freshwater tolerant plants and animals were establishing themselves here. Since the 1970s it has been run and protected by An Taisce.

I did some exploratory poking around to see it for myself. Much of the preserve is (understandably) not easily accessible to pedestrian meddlers like me. The best access that I found was on the northwest side of the park, just east of the Booterstown train station.

Booterstown Marsh, Howth Head in the Background

It is difficult to capture with the camera, but I have been there when the tide is high, low, flowing, and ebbing. A drain on the lower end of the park allows seawater to enter or drain from the park without the raised railbed interfering. I don't know if this pipe allows fish to pass through, but there are a number of unidentified fish of decent size in the water here when the tide is in.

The marsh is also home to many species of freshwater and saltwater birds, some of which have very specific habitat needs on migration routes.

Beautiful Salty Mud

Well done, An Taisce, for recognizing the need to protect such an unattractive piece of habitat. The birds, fish, and I thank you!

Marlay Park Fairy Tree

When I was walking the back trails of Marlay Park, I stumbled upon a very strange tree in the southern end of the park. The first thing I noticed was the little, pointy spires and towers from a large dead stump through some thick brambles.

When I turned the corner, I saw the whole thing.

An Inhabited Tree Stump?

As I walked up to the tree, I saw that it was decorated from root to tip with doors, windows, balconies, and walkways. Little towers and steeples poked out of the nubs of old branches. These embellishments went all the way around the trunk and were very detailed.

Fairy Door

Fairy Window

I also noticed little notes, letters, and wishes addressed to the fairies of the tree. Some were just little well-wishes to the fairies and the animals (?) of the tree, while others were requests asking for specific things like toys, ponies, and little brothers.

A Letter to the Fairies

Among the letters were little gifts for the fairies of the tree, baby pacifiers (called soothers) chief among them. Some are pinned to the tree with the notes, but others are scattered among the roots of the old tree, but those leaving them have been careful not to block the doors or windows.

[UPDATE] I heard a theory from @Love_Dundrum on Twitter about the baby soothers...

Thanks! RT @LOVE_DUNDRUM Think the soothers are placed in the Marlay Park fairy tree when toddlers grow out of using them, tho I cd be wrong
— Cory Hanson (@HansonCory1) September 12, 2014

Fairy Gifts

I did some searching, and it seems the Fairy Tree was started and is maintained by an art instructor and students at a nearby center for adults with disabilities. They have been caring for and adding on to the Fairy Tree since 2010.

The tree, judging by just one visit, seems to be very popular with the local children and school groups. The notes and gifts were all in good, fresh, and clean condition, so I assume the tree is regularly cleared of letters and toys that pile up and deteriorate in the elements. I admired the fact that a community can take such good care of such a unique landmark.

The tree and its customs are so well known, an Irish company has even started making and selling fairy doors to be installed on trees or other fixtures so any home can have their own magical fairy family move in.

If you make it to Marlay Park, explore the Wicklow Way trail in the south end of the park and you'll find the Fairy Tree... if you're lucky, you just might see a fairy.

A Resident Fairy

And for those who need a little guidance...

View Marlay Park Fairy Tree in a larger map

Marlay Park

When Sara was still in New York, I was looking for a way to keep myself busy. I saw a public outdoor screening of Ghostbusters announced in the Dublin Event Guide in Marlay Park in South County Dublin. This park had been one of those big green splotches on the extended Dublin map that I had had vague plans to visit before, but now I had a reason and a schedule. Time to get on the bike.

The park itself is just north of the M50 southwest of City Centre. Sara and I had been walking as far as Rathfarnham, the township just north of the park, so I knew that cycling there would be no sweat. 

I saw on the map (embedded above) that the park has "woodland" areas, but I wasn't sure what that meant in an urban park. I made sure I had time to catch the movie and explore these "woodlands" for myself.

First up, the movie. I was wondering how they would display the movie outdoors during the day. A traditional projection on a white screen would be very difficult to see in the sunlight. To be seen, the movie would have to be displayed on some kind of huge backlit screen...

"He Slimed Me"

Through the rain, the picture was bright and clear. It looks like it must have been set up at no small expense, and it was well attended by the neighborhood families. Ghostbusters was the middle movie of an all-afternoon tripleheader. I wasn't interested in the first or last films, so I took to the trail after the credits rolled.

Marlay Park, it turns out, is the starting point of The Wicklow Way, the famous walking trail. I had heard of the trail before, but I must have forgotten that it officially started so close to where we are in Dublin. The starting point is announced with a stone gateway of sorts on the north side of Marlay Park.

Wicklow Way Starting Point

The Wicklow Way winds through the park, but a number of other paved and unpaved trails crisscross the park as well. A little stream (maybe the River Slang?) runs through the park and over a number of small waterfalls.

Marlay Park Walking Trail

Stone Bridge

Waterfall 1

I saw a badger burrow in the south end of the park. It was getting close to sunset, but I didn't want to hang around to catch the resident mustelid. The light made it difficult to get a good photo of the hole.

Badger Burrow

Waterfall 2

                           

Waterfall 3

The Wicklow Way is marked every few hundred yards with recycled black plastic signposts. In the park, they are handy. In the deep woods, they are lifesavers.

Wicklow Way Signpost

In the middle of the park, the little river is dammed up into a shallow lake. A deck with park benches got me out of the shade of the woods and into what little sun there was that day.

Deck and Park Bench on the Lake

I had just enough time to canvas most of the trails in the park before I ran out of daylight. Thanks for hosting the free movies, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council! I hope to see you again soon.

Herbert Park

Between the two glitzy south Dublin suburbs Donnybrook and Ballsbridge sits sprawling, flat, green Herbert Park. It is so named for the rich landowner who donated the land to Dublin City to host a 1907 World-Fair-Like-Thing called the Irish International Exhibition.

Like many big-budget yet temporary events (ahem, World Cup?) the city bore the huge burden of constructing a miniature Disneyland that would be used for a few months before being dismantled.

It was apparently quite a show in its time. Like other World Fairs, they displayed the most innovative of scientific and industrial developments like the new electric light and internal combustion engine motorcars. Bram Stoker, author of Dracula attended the fair and wrote an essay for the Fair's promotional pamphlet. 

From his The Great White Fair

"...the visitor approaching or within the grounds sees the great range of snowy domes and pinnacles standing out start against the rising hills and towering into a sky of Irish blue – a blue which an American enthusiast poetically compared with ‘a colleen’s eyes’"

The centerpiece of the Fair was the four-winged International Hall. Each wing represented a different continent and featured artwork and cultural items representing each, probably in a very racist and patronizing way. I particularly wonder about the cultural sensitivity of the Somali Village, a recreation of life in British Somaliland.

There was also a concert hall, art gallery, a bandstand, and a large waterslide with a long splashdown pool. Apparently turn of the century kids got on rafts to go down the slide and skim across the long landing pool, much like modern slides. I imagine the bathing suits were much more modest in 1907...

Today

Yes, the glory of 1907 has passed, but in a rare moment of foresight, the Earl of Pembroke, donor of the land, demanded that the land be used for the exhibition and then was to be used for a public park. As he said...

"At the close of the exhibition, the grounds [are] to be opened to the public as a park and recreation ground forever."

The buildings were disassembled and carted away to open up this large park. Public amenities like tennis courts, boules, bowling, and bocce courts can all be used... for a fee.

The bandstand and long pond used for the waterslide splash zone are still standing in the southeast corner of today's park. The water is now shallow and sludgy, covered with the feathers of the innumerable ducks, swans, seagulls, and pigeons begging to be fed by lunchtime parkgoers.

Waterslide Splash Zone Today

Most of the park is just... greenspace. Paved paths weave through the grass and flowers, and Herbert Park Road cuts the park into northwest/southeast halves. The paid courts are all on the northwest side, and I usually never get past the pond when I visit. Looking at the map above and seeing how close it is to the River Dodder, it should come as no surprise that I won't go very far from the water.

Apparently, the pond in the park used to be home to a population of naturally-spawning common carp. The park's Wikipedia entry describes some two-foot monsters living in the two-foot water as late as 2009. Today, I have scoured every inch of that stagnant pool and have seen nothing. I wonder what happened to them?

Herbert Park Gardens

For More

If you are interested in learning more about the Irish International Exhibition here in Herbert Park, check this pdf document, written by the Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, and Sandymount Historical Society and the Royal Dublin Society for the 2007 centennial celebration. Very little on the exhibition on its own Wikipedia page.

If you're in south Dublin, read up on the exhibition and take a fresh look at the park through 1907 eyes. The above linked document has maps and photos of all of the buildings, so you can find out what was built on your current favorite park spot. I was already drawn to the park's pond before I learned that it was originally built as a waterslide splashdown zone. Amazing the things one learns!

Deer Park

It's great to get out of the traffic and bustle of our busy neighborhood in Dublin. Going to a park in City Centre can be relaxing, but their prime location makes them busy and sometimes noisy. This noise is usually that of traffic and passing tourists, but sometimes that of street drunks screaming obscenities at each other. The Gardai (Irish police officers) usually can't be bothered with screaming drunks in the park, often preferring to keep walking the beat and enjoying the sunshine with the rest of the tourists.

Away from City Centre, south of our neighborhood and up the steep hill of Mount Merrion is Deer Park. The park is a nice suburban oasis in a quiet and affluent neighborhood, the perfect getaway from the noise of the city.

The park is divided into two halves and crisscrossed with walking paths. The east half is a traditional city park with a playground, greenspace, and a very dense mini forest in which to really feel out of the city. The western half of the park is playing fields for organized sports like tennis, soccer, Gaelic Football, Hurling, and rugby. 

Park Map

Green Space

Walking Path

As mentioned earlier, the park is at the top of a steep hill on the south side of Dublin. This elevation affords a great view of Dublin city in a few little windows between buildings. Dublin sadly has very few prominent skyline features, but I enjoy a bird's-eye view of any city. In the photo below, look carefully in the center of the frame for the white obelisk Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park, several miles away.

View of Western Dublin and Phoenix Park

Rock Art

In the middle of the mini forest, it is easy to believe you've been transported to a temperate rainforest in the summertime. Every tree is covered with creeping ivy and vines, giving the illusion that the forest is much more dense than it really is. Seeing this brought me back to camping in the Redwoods of California last summer.

It's a Jungle Out There

If You Go

To be very honest, Deer Park shouldn't really be part of the tourist agenda. It is several miles from City Centre in a residential neighborhood. The local southside residents should definitely get out and enjoy this great resource. It is smaller and less busy than Donnybrook's Herbert Park.

Wherever you are, get out and enjoy a public park this summer.

St. Patrick's Park

St. Patrick is the international icon- religious and secular- of Ireland. I think they appreciate him more than Bono, but it must be a close margin. St. Patrick, after all, brings to Ireland piles of cash in tourism and international sales of Guinness year after year.

In Dublin, the stoniest monument to the man himself is the pointy-Gothic St. Patrick's Cathedral. Hilariously, the cathedral is not Catholic. That's right, St. Patrick, the Catholic-est symbol of the officially Catholic nation, has a Protestant Anglican cathedral bearing his name today. Even funnier, the Anglicans have another large cathedral, Christ Church, just a few hundred feet uphill from St. Patrick's. The truth is truly stranger than fiction.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Both cathedrals (Christ Church and St. Patrick's) charge a "voluntary" admission fee to enter and explore, so it goes without saying that we have never set foot inside. St. Patrick's has the advantage of a pleasant but small public park next to the church grounds, allowing locals (and very few tourists) a chance to relax in green space and admire the many angles of the huge church.

Another Angle

The church was built upon the spot where St. Patrick allegedly baptized the Viking king of Dublin. It was known as St. Patrick's Well, and it sat on the now-underground River Poddle, which flowed through town and met the River Liffey near the spot upon which Dublin Castle sits today.The church was eventually seized by the Anglicans and has been Protestant ever since.

The park is small but quite pleasant. There is a nice stretch of green space, footpaths, and benches. A fountain highlights the center of the park.

Obligatory Cory-Looking-At-The-Shallow-Nasty-Water Shot

Decorative flower gardens are planted with different flowering annuals and perennials, especially Sara's favorite tulips, which bloom much earlier here than our tulips in Iowa.

Extreme Tulip Closeup

The church has a long literary connection, going back to the days when Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels was the Dean of the Cathedral. As such, one side of the park is lined with a sort of wall of fame of Irish literary heroes. Each memorialized writer has a plaque with a bronze headshot, birth-and-death dates, and notable works. Like a literary baseball card with batting average, stolen bases, RBI, and ERA.

Literary Parade

Literary Parade Joyce Plaque

The park is pleasant and quiet. It seems that most of the tourists who drop their hard-earned cash going to the church don't have time to step out into the rainshine (that's the standard weather in Ireland, blue skies and bright sun with rain falling at the same time) and enjoy the free park. 

I haven't been in the church, but my guess is that the best views are to be had from St. Patrick's Park.

Totally Unsolicited Travel Tips

1. St. Patrick's Park is just west of City Centre. To get there, you'll need a good map- not the free cartoon map from the hotel. There isn't a handy one or two turn set of written directions to get to the park. The park is bordered by Bride Street on the east and Patrick Street on the west. Easiest trip is from Christ Church, head south on Werburgh Street (which turns into Bride Street) or Nicholas Street (which turns into Patrick Street) and follow downhill to the big pointy building.
2. Using your map, mobile device, or the tourist info signs, one can navigate either back north to Christ Church or east back to Grafton Street.
3. Decent shopping can be found up and down nearby Camden Street. If you are finished with the shopping on and near Grafton and still want more shopping, check out the charity shops, food markets, and home stores on Camden.