I decided to visit Dublin Castle having forgotten that there was European-style traditional Christmas market which was booked out well in advance and when I arrived I was surprised by the queues.
Christmas at the Castle is a European-style traditional Christmas market with wooden chalet market stalls selling decorative crafts, inspiring gifts ideas and delicious food. It offers musical entertainment and the added bonus of access to the beautifully decorated State Apartments of Dublin Castle and the Neapolitan Crib in the Chapel Royal.
The event will run from 14:00 to 21:30 daily with a minimum of two and a maximum of three sessions per day. This will be a FREE, ticketed event. Cashless transactions are preferred on site.
Today I used a very old E-mount lens that came with Sony NEX-5 which I purchased in December 2010 and the results were more than a little disappointing. I could not correct for lens distortion and every image was under exposed.
Those who cannot attend Christmas at the Castle can still visit the Dubhlinn Gardens and the current exhibitions in the Coach House Gallery and the Chester Beatty. The Office of Public Works is also organising other Christmas events and markets across Dublin with a choir in the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre each weekend, a festive market and a family Christmas cycle in Farmleigh and a festive market at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin.
Constructed in the early thirteenth century on the site of a Viking settlement, Dublin Castle served for centuries as the headquarters of English, and later British, administration in Ireland. In 1922, following Ireland’s independence, Dublin Castle was handed over to the new Irish government. It is now a major government complex and a key tourist attraction.
There are a number of gardens for you to visit.
The gardens are situated immediately south of the Chapel Royal and the State Apartments within an enclosing stone wall. The gardens are entered through wrought-iron gates of Celtic-inspired spirals.
At the heart of the gardens is the grassy sward of the Dubh Linn Garden, where patterns representing sea serpents are cut into the lawn. This lawn is on or near the site of the original dubh linn or ‘black pool’, where the Vikings harboured their ships and set up a trading base. It was this pool that gave its name to the city: Dublin. The Castle Gardens are immensely popular with visitors and the citizens of Dublin alike. On sunny summer days the gardens are crowded with people enjoying the beautiful surroundings of this special place.
Beyond a ‘four seasons’ garden lie four smaller gardens, one at each corner of the site. All contain specially commissioned works of sculpture. Three of these have since been designated as memorial gardens. One is dedicated to the memory of investigative journalist Veronica Guerin. Another contains a bronze sculpture commemorating the Special Olympics held in Ireland in 2003, with the names of the 30,000 volunteers who contributed to the games inscribed on plaques. The third and largest of these corner gardens is the sheltered Garda Memorial Garden, redesigned and completed in 2009. In this garden the names of all members of the Gardaí (Irish Police) killed in the line of duty are inscribed on a roll of honour. Several sculptural works are also incorporated into the layout. These works and the overall design of the garden are intended to reflect how the premature deaths of loved ones leave a trace or imprint, like ripples in a pool, on the lives of those left behind.
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