I leave Howth with an overwhelming feeling of being part of a special place. I know that is a vague and sort of a cliche thing to say–“a special place”–but throughout our day I continuously was in awe. I’ve mentioned in a previous blog that Dublin is not what I had expected; I’m not entirely sure what I expected, but what Dublin is and what I imagined it to be are two different things. I had a romanticized idea of Ireland, though, and I imagined it as a place filled with greenery and, admittedly, sheep. Perhaps it was city fatigue, but satisfying my natural inclinations and my perception of Ireland in one day quenched a thirst that was created when I booked this trip.

I wish more people from the group opted to do the boat ride around Ireland’s Eye. It was remarkable. We rode past caves, puffins (!!!!) and cliffs. We were splashed by waves nearly as tall as the boat itself, and we were able to see a place in Ireland left relatively undisturbed. Ireland’s Eye is a non-inhabited island, where folks can go, free of charge, to explore. Access is only limited during nesting seasons, but otherwise the options on the island are limitless.

The caves on the island intrigued me the most. Since we did not have the chance to disembark due to waves, from the boat we saw two different types of caves: natural caves, which were deep and dark, and man-made caves, which were supported by a brick structure. I did some research on the island, but I couldn’t find anything about these caves, besides a shotty video of a person on a rowboat inside one of the caves on youtube. However, I did find information about the tower, called Martello tower, situated on the island. It was built in 1803 by the Duke of York (and is one of three in the Howth area) to prevent a possible invasion by Napoleon.