Excursion to Howth

Two of my flatmates and I decided that the city was getting a little close and we need a change of scenery. So we hopped on the train and took it to Howth, a coastal suburb of Dublin. Howth is situated on a peninsula to the slight north east of the capital city. 

We underestimated the need for layers on our excursion. Howth is right on the Irish Sea and so is wetter, windier, and colder than Dublin. Do not disregard the rain in Ireland. As one of our teachers has told us, “If when you wake up in the morning and you can see the mountains (hills really) that means it’s going to rain, and if you can’t see the mountains then it’s raining.” A mist hung in the air but it in no means dampened our spirits and excitement to explore the town. We decided one of the best remedies for the temperature was to put some hot food in our stomachs. We ate at Rosie's Cafe overlooking the harbor where many sailboats were moored. 

Having dried out enough to continue our journey, we decided our main objective was a visit to the Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio, which must of course be called by its full name at all times. The Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio is housed in the Martello Tower, a drum shaped structure from the beginning of the 19th century, originally built to keep a look out for an invasion of Britain by Napoleon. Because of its high vantage, we could see the Tower from sea-level but discovered that navigating to it was another matter. As we hiked our way up the steep inclines of Howth, we spotted caves along the shoreline, wondering if they had been used for smuggling back in the days of yore. It seemed the road was taking us in the opposite direction of the Tower and then we came upon a cement staircase that deposited us out into a residential block called Asgard Park. From there we detoured through the Gothic style Church of Assumption, past the ruins of the Abbey, and found our way up to the Tower. 

Inside, we packed into a cozy one room tower crowded with radios, telegraphs, phonographs, fog horns, record players, early TVs, and an extremely knowledgeable docent. He gave us an indepth tour of all the tech and contraptions collected into the small tower. My particular favorite items were a very early Edison Standard Phonograph, a framed picture of Rita Hayworth used by the French Resistance in World War Two to disguise a radio, a Coca-Cola bottle that also was a disguised radio, a massive crank fog siren, and a plasma ball that was irresistible to touch. The most incredible thing about the collection of old tech was that it was all still in working order! I highly recommend if you find yourself in Howth to pay a visit to the Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio!

After the museum, we popped quickly into the Abbey Tavern to regroup and decided to head for the Howth Market and then the Castle. The Market was essentially a farmers market, and I could not resist the tempting Churros. The price seemed a little steep at first, €5.50, for what I was expecting to be one long churro like they usually are in the States. No, it was a carton of churro bits, totally worth every cent. With sugar and cinnamon covered deliciousness in hand, we headed for the Howth Castle grounds. We again found a secret staircase and followed it to St. Mary’s Church. After some mild shenanigans of attempting to pull an Aragorn opening the front doors, and then thinking we had lost one of our own to the faeries for a moment, we continued on to the castle grounds. Unfortunately, the castle and grounds were mostly restricted and so after some more meandering, we headed for the train station. All and all it was a very enjoyable trip to Howth, a Sunday well spent!