LITTLE KNOWN PLACES IN SOUTHERN IRELAND...

Here's a little of Howth and Carlow, Ireland!  We were in Dublin for a night and opted to go to Howth and spend our time, before heading to Carlow the next day for The Hubs work.

HOWTH, IRELAND

Howth Cliff Walk - not too far away from Dublin and a fun thing to do!  Howth is a small resort like town with good seafood and I'm sure it gets busy in the summer!

Howth also has a few ruins to see.  This old church ruin is perched above the Irish Sea!

Dan made a friend on our walk.

We ate an early dinner at The Brazen Head in Dublin, supposedly the oldest pub in Ireland!  This was our 2nd time here and it's nice to go early when it's not so crazy-busy!

POWERSCOURT ESTATE NEAR DUBLIN

We visited Powerscourt Estate, south of Dublin, and though it was too windy to be outside, we enjoyed their cafe.  

Avoca is a famous Irish brand of scarves.  Here is an old Avoca loom in a shop at Powerscourt.

Beautiful Avoca scarves!  Pricey, too.

The highest waterfall in Ireland, at the Powerscourt Estate.

CARLOW, IRELAND

We had the nicest B & B in the middle of Carlow!  It was filed with antiques and books about Ireland. 

Black and white pudding(sausage) with our Irish breakfast.

Carlow Cathedral from inside the Carlow Museum.

More Carlow

VISUAL Art Centre - a performing arts venue and an art gallery -  I went in for the free art galleries!

Lennon Cafe at the Art Centre has some good Banoffee Pie!  This is something I had last summer in Ireland and hope to learn to make myself!

This sculpture, the"Liberty Tree" is right in the middle of Carlow and commemorates the 1798 Rebellion.  If you look closely the trunk is make of skeletons (sculptures).  

Hadn't see any shamrocks in Ireland until this fence!

Government building

I walked about 20 minutes to the Delta Sensory Gardens, which were recommended to me by the Tourist Bureau.  I wasn't sure what I would see in February, but went since I had the time.  It was so neat!  I loved all the different garden layouts, waterfalls, and sculptures.  I'm sure it is awesome in the summer!

After the gardens, I sat in the B & B by a warm fire.  Our host brought me tea and a KitKat!

On our way out of Carlow we stopped at the Brownshill Dolmen.  This is the largest dolmen (ancient tomb?) in Ireland.  They don't know the origin of these (like Stonehenge).  But they're neat to see.  We walked about 10 minutes into a farmers field, on a trail, to see this up close.