After a hearty full Irish breakfast we took a bus out to Howth, a small fishing village on the northern edge of Dublin Bay. It was a bright, sunny morning as we strolled along the West Harbour pier. Along the waters edge fishermen were landing their morning catch and brightly coloured fishing boats bobbed about in the sheltered harbour. Facing the water there are an assortment of fishmongers, cafes and deli’s all serving the freshly caught fish and seafood. A small crowd had gathered a little further along the pier and we noticed seals jumping in the water and so we paused awhile to watch their antics. Towards the end of the pier lies the Martello Tower from where we could see the small isle of Ireland’s Eye, a fifteen minute boat ride away.
We retraced our steps and browsed Howth Market, located beside the DART station. This operates at weekends and sells crafts , organic foods and has a few take away stalls. We continued along the seafront, heading uphill until we reached Howth Castle and gardens.
There were good views looking back down to the village centre from there. Feeling hungry, we shared some fish and chips from Bishoffs, a Dublin institution, obviously popular as the queue snaked back along the road. Sitting on a bench overlooking the bay we enjoyed our tasty snack and then feeling thirsty we had beers at the quaintly named village pub ‘The Bloody Stream’ before returning to the city centre.
Our afternoon excursion was to Kilmainham Gaol located 3.5 km out of the city centre. This is one of the largest unoccupied gaols in Europe covering some of the most heroic and tragic events in Ireland’s history. We took the one hour guided tour which was extremely interesting and learnt that several major films have been filmed here including Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan.
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I will definitely follow this advice when I visit Dublin
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Thank you. Have a great time and don’t hesitate to contact me again if you need more help.
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I will be in Dublin next week so this was very helpful! Thank you!
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Thank you for reading my blog Jeff and for your welcome comments. It’s pleasing to read that you have found my posts of help.
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Your posts about Dublin are making me want to visit as well!
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Dublin is a gem of a city. Hope you get a chance to visit soon.thank you for reading my blog and your welcome comments.
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I loved the photo of the boats you took at Howth. The flowers along the bank’s edge make it really beautiful.
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Thank you once again for your positive feedback. I’ve visited Howth twice now and enjoyed it both times.
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Enjoying your posts on Dublin. A good tip for Dublin Bay is to take the Dart connecting Howth to Bray and Greystones via the city centre. Call again soon!
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Thanks for the tip, I’ll certainly do that next time I’m in Dublin.
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Really enjoyed the piece but felt if you mentioned that the executions following the 1916 rising were carried out there people would understand just how important a historical sight Kilmainham is to the Irish people. Again, another brilliant piece on what Dublin has to offer! Howarth has to be one of my favourite spots if I need to escape the city 🙂
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Thank you for your suggestion and I agree that it would have been better if I’d mentioned about the executions but glad you enjoyed the post!
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It would be a powerful thing to see the Gaol, where the events of 1916 came to a bloody end.
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It certainly was but we learnt a lot about Irish history through the tour.
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I enjoyed reading that. Haven’t been to Dublin since I was two years old, so I remember nothing. It is on the list. The gaol trip sounded interesting.
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Definitely a great weekend destination, thanks for your positive comments!
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We really enjoyed Howth when we visited Dublin. We took a boat over and explored Ireland’s Eye, which was absolutely beautiful. The birds were nesting at the time, so we had to be careful not to disturb anyone. We saw a number of fluffy seabird chicks though. We also hiked up the road along the cliff from the harbor, which had some beautiful views. Did you have the chance to do that?
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We walked along the road along the cliff but didn’t hire bikes or go out to Ireland’s Eye, sounds lovely. I’m so pleased you visited Dublin, maybe UK next!
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The Italian Job prison scenes were shot there, with Noel Coward (Mr Bridger) and Daniel Day Lewis in In the Name of the Father, also shot there…good places to visit. Hope you went south, too to Dalkey and Killiney?
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We didn’t get an opportunity to travel further south but would like to do so sometime, thanks for letting me know about the other film scenes shot there.
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Both great movies. And wonderful photos.
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Thanks Miriam – it was really fun to see where they had been filmed!
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Yeah, it definitely would have been.
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It’s a beautiful old gaol Little Miss Traveller!!! Nice post – enjoy reading about your travels.
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Thank you so much Sue – your posts are firm favourites of mine as well!
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Thank you. You have brought a huge smile to my face.
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We visit Dublin every summer but have not yet made it to the Gaol – one for the list!!
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It’s a really interesting place to visit, hope you get an opportunity to visit this year.
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What a really cool place! Thank you for sharing!
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It’s a pleasure, thanks for your comments.
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I enjoyed reading your recent posts about Dublin and Howth. Great photos too. Thanks for sharing.
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It’s a pleasure – thanks for your kind words.
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