Howth

We took the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) train from the Connoly Train Station to Howth, a small fishing village on a peninsula about 26 minutes east of central Dublin. A walk down the pier, just around the corner from the train station, had us drooling over all of the fresh fish and seafood on offer.

From the village, we walked up the hill to take in at least part of the cliff walk. There are several circle routes, and we didn’t think we’d have the time (or inclination) to complete any of them, so we just walked and walked until we decided we were ready to change direction (hmmm, sounds a bit like our traveling life right now).

The views of the village are lovely from the cliffs. and we saw seals and dolphins frolicking in the sea far below.

Final walkabout

On our last day in Dublin, we headed back toward the Temple Bar area, because we had only been through it briefly on a previous afternoon and wanted to see some more. On our way, we tried to choose streets that we hadn’t wandered before. I didn’t take the camera today, so we just have a few (low-grade) phone snaps to mark our day.

We remembered an important cathedral that we had missed, and made sure to walk past it. The St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the tallest and largest in Ireland. Signs advertised Sunday afternoon choral concerts open to everyone. It would have been a beautiful way to experience the inside of this magnificent structure.

On the theme of old buildings, we stopped a little east of Temple Bar at The Brazen Head, self-proclaimed as the oldest pub in Ireland (though this claim is disputed).

Through thorough research at the pub, we found out how far we were away from hometown Vancouver.

Ken remembered he wanted to see the Ha’penny Bridge, so we found our way through the Merchant’s Arch and across the street to this 1816 pedestrian crossing over the River Liffey. So far, the love locks are not threatening to topple the bridge as they are in other cities.

We had to snap a picture looking both ways from the bridge.

Final musings

The streets in Dublin are clean. Not just litter-free clean, but washed clean. We’d often see wet streets and wonder if it had rained. No, but a street washer was just down the block. The sidewalks and pedestrian areas were also provided this level of TLC with smaller person-pushed street washers.

All official signage is bilingual, with Irish Gaelic usually taking the prominent position (this is the case throughout Ireland). Though English is the language of everything here, it’s nice to see the signs of language preservation.

And that’s it for us for Dublin.

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TripBits

• Dublin to Howth on the DART: €6.25 each, return.
• AirCoach from just outside our AirBnB (Leeson Street Bridge) to the airport: €8/person when booked online. There are several airport services – just pick the one that is most convenient to your location.