We’re in the home stretch of our time in Dublin. And while I am looking forward to sleeping at home and eating American fast-food, I’m starting to wish we had one more week here in Dublin. This Saturday we were able to see some of Ireland’s beautiful country sides with trips to the Hill of Tara, Trim Castle, and Hill of Uisneach. What I found incredible about the Hill of Uisneach was how you could see twenty of thirty-two counties of Dublin. From there every county in sight lights a bonfire in unison, to feel a sense of community across the island.
My favorite part of this week was our trip to Howth. Navigating the dart system with all the other students on the program was a fun way to start the morning. And while it was only minutes from the city, Howth had a completely different feel than the city. Howth was a beautiful costal town. The hike was also completely different than what I expected. When we first met our tour guide, he greeted us wearing extreme hiking gear, a tracking dog, and told us he was a former Irish Marine. Up until this point most of our hikes were just walking through paths, but this hike took us to the next level. It felt like we went from an Irish coastal town to the jungle. Weeds went over our heads and thorns cut up our legs. But when we came out of the deep lush of the forest, we climbed to the top of a hill where we could see the whole town and the Howth Golf Course.
After that mountain, we hiked down and towards the famous Howth Cliff. From there we saw the Howth Lighthouse. Unknown to me at the time, but this was the lighthouse that I can see from my window at UCD. After our tour was over, we were able to explore the town of Howth a little more. We got seafood at a great local restaurant. It was my first-time having seafood in Ireland and it was a great lunch after a long and grueling hike.
Knowing that this is my last weekend in Dublin is a strange feeling. This weekend my parents are coming, and it is going to be fun showing them the places we’ve discovered over the past couple weeks.
