www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYmOVMphqE
Just back from a month in El Palo, Málaga. Dublin's in my blood...Howth in particular. But this El Palo month was the first time ever I didn't feel homesick. Usually the 1st week is pure "I want to go home" Tend to chill out for the next 2 weeks and actually enjoy 'being on holiday' Week 4 and I'm like a kid with "when are we going home?" in my head every day.
Howth, though I live 10 minutes away by train, is my spiritual home; if such a thing exists. It's a working port and also a traditional 'day at the seaside' venue for generations of Northside Dubliners. You can see these every day; Summertime week-ends especially. And you can smell the history of both the trawlermen and revellers if you close your eyes. And it's breathtaking.
I grew up in Finglas West; a North Dublin working class area, and each Sunday in Summer the Tenants Association ran buses to seaside locations around Dublin. Lunches would be packed and the Association would organise huge kettles of boiling water for tea-making. Claremont Beach in Howth was one of the favourite locations for these trips and it was then my love affair with Howth began.
The 3 pics were taken on different dates, during the evening or close to evening. The one on the left was taken from the back of Howth, close to the summit. There used to be a tram, the Hill of Howth Tram, that ran from the village right around the peninsula. I never travelled on it since the transport authorities, in one of the most egregious acts of vandalism perpetrated by the Irish State, decided to not only close it, but rip up the tracks in 1959. Some of original trams can be seen in Transport museums and there have been various proposals to reinstate it but, as of now, it hasn't happened. There is a 'rare as hen's teeth' bus service that follows the route of the tram service but, even as a tourist attraction, the reinstatement of a tram would be wonderful.
The other two are Howth Harbour. I could have added hundreds more but it would have been a monstrous file. If you know Howth I hope you feel that they do it justice.
