Visiting Howth

I thought to myself last night before I went to bed that today would be a spontaneous day; that I would make no plans and follow my instincts. Much of this adventure so far for me has involved a lot of planning and trying to know in advance what I'll be doing, so I figured that maybe I should try a different approach. I woke up this morning and the only thing my instincts were telling me was to get caffeine into my system as soon as possible, so I was a tiny bit discouraged on whether or not I'd be able to come up with something interesting with so little to work off of. I decided that I'd take the Luas to Connolly Station and then take the train to anywhere north of Dublin that I didn't know a thing about. When I got to the ticket machine I decided that today I would go to Howth which is a fishing town in Dublin 13 that I've heard is a lovely place to spend a day. I got on the train with no maps or instructions about what to do once I got there, and thus my journey begins.

I arrived in Howth only about 30 minutes after boarding the DART train, which seemed to be moving at a snails pace. I was amazed immediately by the natural beauty there; cliffs and water and rock are the images that come to mind when I think about what it was like there. The weather today wasn't fantastic so the sky was gray and a spitting rain was falling, and the smell of freshly gutted fish filled the air. I will say that as I walked along one of the piers I thought to myself that this might be the most authentic fishing village I've ever seen in my life. If you can imagine a picture out of a children's storybook that would be the feeling walking around there gave me. I hadn't eaten so I had a fantastic meal at a restaurant along the pier, and then continued on my discovery walk around town. I ended up not discovering much more than a pier that wrapped around the bay, but it was there that I had a realization. For the first time I really got a sense of what I think Ireland is at its' best. As I walked to the end of the pier the wind was hitting me in the face and the waves were crashing against the rocks and I looked around at the fishing boats going out into Dublin Bay and I thought about the synthesis that makes Ireland so unique. It is not only the lovely people you meet or the ancient castles or the amazing natural scenery or any other one thing, but how you have all of those things in one place- and Howth showed all those things to me at one time. I feel very privileged to be here and be doing what I love to do in a country so full of mystery and intrigue, and I look forward to more spontaneous discoveries like todays!

Written by Joe Gayk - Summer of Travel 2007