Clontarf Castle

Yesterday Jono and I went off to Dublin for the toy and train fair.

It’s on four times a year but this is the first one we have been too. Jono is really interested in model railways so we went to have a look around.

Of course yesterday was FAI cup final day so the train to Dublin was really busy with all the Sligo Rovers fans going to the Aviva stadium. I didn’t mind the busy train but I hate it when people play their music without using headphones. First of all we had to endure Westlife and then to add insult to injury we had to listen to the whole of Michael Bublé’s album. Not my kind of music 😦 Sligo won so that’s great news….and we got home before the fans did, so no bad music on the train home.

Anyway we made our way to Clontarf Castle to where the toy and train fare was being held. It’s a wonderful building and is now a hotel. I would love to stay there, it is so atmospheric. There was a big open fire, knights lining the corridor and lions outside (not real lions luckily).

Jono loved the fair. He got a couple of trains including a really cool clockwork one still in it’s box. There were all kinds of toys there including old books, cars, doll houses and of course trains. Everyone was very friendly and Jono is already planning his next trip!

We walked back to the city centre, it’s about a 40 minute walk. Clontarf seems like a nice place, we walked along the sea front and luckily it was a dry, sunny day. There were still lots of sandbags there from last weeks storm.

We had a quick look around the shops in the city but it was very busy so we gave up and got the train home. It was a lovely day out but I’m not keen on the 6 hour return journey…..you could get to Spain quicker 😉