Howth

Yesterday I made a side trip to Howth (pronounced Hoe-th) with my flat-mate Stephanie and her friend Jackie who was visiting from Spain. Its a town on the outskirts of Dublin that is on a really cool peninsula. We took the DART there which was super easy as there is a station literally next door and it drops us off in the center of Howth. It took about 20 minutes and then we were there.

We got off the train and the first thing I noticed was the smell, I'm not entirely sure what it was but it smelled really good there, probably the lack of city-smell. It's a fishing village so there was fish everywhere and lots of seafood restaurants. We walked down a pier and saw a group of people standing at the side and so went to investigate, and they were feeding seals! There was a group of 6 seals in the water swimming around and catching fish. It was really cool to watch.

We continued on the pier, found the tourist office and picked up a map, then headed off for the cliff walk. There is a trail that surrounds the peninsula walking along the cliffs and passing by a light house. We walked to the trail head, passed WB Yeats' house at some point (it was marked on our map but not on the street), and then headed down the trail. It was gorgeous, blue sky, the ocean, steep cliffs, and pretty yellow flowers on the hillside. We walked along it for about an hour until we made it to the light house, about halfway around. From there we could see Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains. We decided that was a good enough hike, and it had gotten cloudy and windy, and hence cold, so we were planning on taking the shortcut through the peninsula, but then met a bus headed back to Howth and decided that was a good enough option.

Back in Howth we looked around for a place to eat and ended up at the Fisherman's Bar and ordered fish and chips. It was really good, and a cute place. Then we took the DART back to Dublin to end our brief adventure.