🇮🇪 Dublin & Howth

Howth

The sun shone down on Ireland the day we headed to the Republic of Ireland. A little weird for us as we were back in Euros (the currency). Our new Airbnb accommodation was about half an hour away from Dublin. We stayed in a cozy cabin in our host Toni’s backyard which looked over the sea.

It’s true the people you meet can leave you with many fond memories of a place. This was true of our stay here. We loved our daily chats with our host Toni. Toni and her husband had lived in her beautiful home here for 30 years. The panoramic view standing in the backyard were just beautiful. Each morning we unlocked the back gate and enjoyed a nice coastline walk along the sand.

We enjoyed exploring the fishing town of Howth 5 minutes away. This town is full of beautiful seafood restaurants as the seafood is fresh straight out of these waters to your plate. We strolled the pier admiring the many large fishing vessels.

Close to where we were staying was Howth Castle.

 

Dublin

On a Sunday we headed out to explore Dublin. We were aware that on Sunday nothing really opens until lunchtime but Sunday parking was a bonus for us as street parking is free in Dublin on Sunday.

We first explored St Audoen’s Church. We admired one of the church bells cast in 1423, and I rubbed the lucky stone – well who doesn’t want a bit of good luck in their life!!

We wandered around the grounds of Dublin Castle.

We then found ourselves outside the Temple Bar one of Dublin’s oldest and famous pubs. We took in the atmosphere with all the chatter and Irish music but it was too early for a Guinness.

A coffee was more our scene at this time a day. I found a lucky clover seat to relax in.

We took in the sights along the River Liffey and wandered across the pretty Ha’penny bridge. It is considered a jewel of the city. Ships would have to pay a half penny to cross. There are many elegant lamp posts along the river bridge crossings.

We explored Trinity College and waited in line to see the almighty – Book of Kells!! One of the great treasures of medieval Europe a manuscript written in Latin. It is said to be created by early Christian monks around 800AD. The calligraphy was extremely decorative and colourful. Still it was not really a big wow factor for us!

Our favourite was The Long Room completed in 1732. Around 65 metres long it houses over 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books. Rob and I have always enjoyed quaint old style book stores with romantic ladders that run high along the shelves. This was by far the most impressive library we had ever stepped foot in. It cost us 14 euro each to see the Library and the Book of Kells which we thought was a little over priced but we did it as all the museums are free in Dublin.

We explored the Museum of Natural History. We enjoyed seeing the gigantic Irish Deer skeleton but in the back of our minds we were thinking about how all these taxidermy animals have been killed and now on exhibition which made it really lifeless and sad. It seemed like these animals were killed really for human pleasure and entertainment which we are not at all big fans of.

We did find an Irish store that we were really taken with. Eye candy for adults is how I would describe Avoca. It is well known in Ireland for its beautiful wool woven rugs, scarfs, jumpers and socks. They also have a great food hall, cafe and restaurant. This was only the first one we had discovered and we were hooked. Just a feast for the senses. Everything is so perfectly displayed.

We wandered through the very popular St. Stephen’s Green Park which lead us to vibrant Grafton Street. Just like as in Ed Sheeran’s song it is a vibrant area full of upcoming musicians trying to get known whilst people congregate merrily to listen to the chilled out vibe.

We love it when we find a wonderful healthy gourmet burger cafe. We had done a lot of research and came up with Bobo Gourmet Irish Burgers which were delicious. Full of free range organic meats and freshly made salads these were delicious. We had 6 chicken burgers to choose from so we tried a pesto chicken and a peri peri chicken and yes we will be returning again. This brought our day in Dublin to an end.

On another day out we explored the local area of Malahide Castle with its pretty abbey and gardens.

We walked along the water of Malahide and we found another great gourmet food store. Halloween was looming in the air with pumpkins in many stores. On our journey back we were pleasantly surprised to spot our favourite highland coos here in Ireland.