FREEDOM!!!!!
Trip Start
Jun 16, 2008
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Ongoing
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Trim, County Meath, Ireland
Sunday, February 1, 2009
So, on the Sunday, we set off to see another castle (and we left early this time!). The castle that day was 'Trim Castle' which is in Trim(!) an hour or so west of Dublin. It was really, really cold & windy!
Trim Castle is the largest in Ireland in terms of square footage of the grounds. The actual remaining central structure is smaller than lots of other castles, but still stunning. I think it was about €6 to get into the grounds and have a tour included, but really good value nonetheless. You can walk around the grounds by yourself, but you have to take the tour option to see inside the remaining castle structure - this is because of it's fragility etc, so they limit who is inside at any one time, and lock the door behind you (with a HUGE key!) to stop other people coming in. The tour lasts about half an hour and is really interesting - plus you get to climb all through the castle - something that excited me greatly! I love castles, but the problem is that a lot of the time, stairways are blocked off for 'health & safety reasons' - it always leaves me wondering "what's up there?..." Anyway, this castle wasn't too bad, and you did get to see quite a bit of it on the tour - at the end, you can ask the guide to hold the key (it really is massive - just how you'd imagine a castle key to be! I just wonder how big their keyrings were?)
The grounds were great as well, and lots of areas to explore...! Plus it even had a moat!! And stocks!! We all had to 'have a go' in the stocks!
For the sharp-eyed among you, you may recognise this castle, as it was used in the filming of 'Braveheart' - as the castle double for the Battle of York. If you ask at the reception area, they will show you the photo album containing stills of some scenes from the film! Clare & I became so patriotic, when we got back in the evening, we rented the film from the local video shop!
One last thing - I mentioned before how cold it was that day - the last picture in the album was because Clare & I weren't dressed for the weather - we both had our hoodies on, and hoods were up! I mentioned that we looked like thugs, so we decided to have a 'thug photo' - are you scared?? LOL!
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