May 23 - Ride to Howth

Good afternoon, I guess - we just finished a great Italian meal, so I'm a bit late getting at this today.
Our adventure today was a cycle ride to Howth & back, about 40 km total.  Here's a map to orient yourselves.
Our hotel is on the left side and Howth is at the top of the peninsula.
It is slightly hair raising getting out of town, but there is a cycle trail most of the way, so this is a relatively easy ride.  And flat, only one hill in the middle of the peninsula.


On the way there, we saw this very intricately carved tree (now a big stump).  Don't know anything about it (this chicken didn't cross the road).



On the south side of the route is a very shallow bay - the tide was out for miles.  It looked muddy, not like Parksville or QB beaches.











We made it to Howth, stopped for a Latte, and then pedaled out to the end of the end of the waterfront road.

Here's the shops & restaurants along the way.  Definitely a fishing village.




A closeup of the little island north of the wharf area.












The breakwater / promenade on the other side of the harbour.














On the way back, I dropped into a fish store to see what they offered.  Here's the two display coolers.

Comments:  I didn't see any cod with heads on, but it looked good.  
Prices seemed to be about the same as ours.

Salmon:  18.99 E / kg, about $2.80 / 100 gms.  All farmed.  Explained to the lady about why we aren't fans of farmed salmon.

Ray wings - I can take 'em or leave 'em.  Seafood mix - is this what fell on the floor?

Sea Bass - from Turkey

Lots of fish that we don't typically see - they seem to be closer to 'harvesting' their last species than we are.

Prawns in the next cabinet - looked like prawns but definitely not spots or stripes.

The big impression as soon as I walked into the shop - the smell!  They must have not cleaned up some spillage from a while go.. Pretty "niffy" in there.  Our shops and the ones we saw in South america did  not smell this strong.


The last waterfront shot - a nice view of the lighthouse.  I suspect its been replaced by a scrawny light on a post just a bit further out.

The local yacht harbour is in the background.

Speaking of yacht harbour, this is one of the more upscale suburbs of Dublin.






Here's a house.  Of course, there are a mix of older and newer styles.




Here's a link to one of the local real estate agents, in case you have a few hundred thousand Euros you don't need.  (If you don't need them. save a few for me in case I need bail money!)

http://www.sherryfitz.ie/residential/for-sale/houses/dublin-co/howth

Probably less expensive than Vancouver, but roughly on par with Nanoose.

Last photo today, on the way back.  Still upscale, but less so.  I loved the row houses with all the chimney pots - very Mary Poppins.

As I mentioned we had a great Italian meal.  Why Italian in Dublin?  After Fish & Chips, Irish Stew, Bangers & Mash and Steak & Guinness Stew (all good, especially with beer) you are pretty much out of the traditional dishes.  And I did have mushy peas with my Bangers last night.

TTFN - not sure what's happening tomorow.

Oh - I almost forgot:  The first in my collection of gas price photos.  Multiply Euros by 1.56 to get Canadian Pesos.  Ouch!