We took the bus down to Kinsale the other day. It’s a picturesque port town near the mouth of the River Bandon, accessible via a 45 minute bus ride from downtown Cork. It probably caters a little more to the tourist trade than either Cobh or Midleton, despite not having a major specific draw like the distillery or the Heritage Center. Even so, enough of the restaurants and coffee shops were open, to make a full day of it. And it turned out to be a pretty nice day for taking pictures, so I did a lot of that.
We started with coffee and pastries at The Poet’s Corner bookshop and cafe. And, seriously, their scones were the best I’ve had on this visit. And I’ve had more than my share the past 5 weeks.
I’m going to divide the pictures up into waterfront, and town, and mostly post them without comment.
Lobster boatKinsale harbor from The Ramparts
We had fantastic skies most of the day.
Like most Irish towns, Kinsale has old churches and castles, not to mention some old pubs. Not all of them were opened on our visit, though.
St. Multose, Church of IrelandSome people think that’s the best kindYour basic 330 year old pub, sadly, not open for business this early in the day
Houses and house names in Kinsale seemed to me to exhibit more of a sense of humor than some of the others I’ve seen.
I understand you need a special invitation to spend the night hereNobody knows what goes on behind this one
And just an amazing little street that we happened to turn up on our walk.
I’m hoping we’ll get another opportunity to go back and spend some more time in Kinsale before the month is out.
We’ve been busy again for the past week. Blarney, Crosshaven, the Ring of Kerry, and Kinsale on alternating days. Fewer than 4 weeks remain until we leave Cork, and make our way to Portugal and Spain. We’ll spend one of those weekends in Dublin, and another in Paris, external conditions allowing.
Although most of our time here is spent on quotidian affairs, we’re not averse to being tourists when the occasion warrants. Earlier this week we hopped a tour bus and went round the Ring of Kerry. The bus departs about 6 blocks from our apartment, and this guy saw us off.
Passed through a couple of small towns on the way from Cork to Killarney, where we picked up a couple of additional passengers. Of those, I thought Macroom might be worth a standalone visit in the next couple of weeks.
Killarney was picturesque in theme park kind of way. The scone i had there was disappointing, though. Bland and bready. (Don’t worry, the one I had later in the week at the Poet’s Corner in Kinsale made up for it.) But on the way, we passed the far-famed Cork and Kerry Mountains, where once upon a time a young highwayman robbed the English Captain Farrell, and all whack for the daddyo broke out.
I like the sight of snow, off in the distance.
The advantage of touring the Ring in early March is that we were virtually the only tour bus on the road. I hear that during the summer months it can be bumper to bumper with them. So not only are the roads more pleasant to be on, but the stops are empty as well, which means more time to enjoy them.
Glenbeigh is the first, strictly photo opportunity stop of the tour. I took advantage.
We also stopped for lunch in Waterville, where Charlie Chaplin had a house for much of his life. It’s now owned by one of the local golf clubs, and for a super premium price, you and your group can stay there for a couple of nights while you play some of the local courses. They also honor Chaplin with a film festival and look-alike contest. Our bus driver told us that towards the end of his life, Chaplin entered the contest, and placed 12th. I have my doubts.
More art in Waterville
We also had a pretty nice lunch at The Lobster, which was one of the few restaurants open on a weekday this time of year. I’m finding the Irish know how to smoke a salmon.
After lunch, we had another photo opportunity in Castlecove. I took advantage again.
Our next stop was in the charmingly named village of Sneem, where I’m sure that J.R.R. Tolkien must have spent at least one night of his life. We bought some post cards, which gives me the chance to remind you that if you’d like a postcard from us on our travels, you can email me your postal address at corkspringblog at gmail dot com, and I’ll get one out to you.
We were detoured on our return to Killarney by a road closure, so we didn’t get an opportunity to pass through Killarney National Park, nor to see the Torc Waterfall. We did get to stop for a bit at the road closure, and chat with some of the locals, who were curious about us since they don’t seem to get many visitors.
The markings, according to our unreliable narrator of a driver, are to indicate which herd the sheep belong to. I believed him on this one.
When we toured Ireland in 2017, our favorite city was Cork. One of the reasons we liked it so much is that it’s not really much of a tourist town. It’s scenic and there’s lots to do, and there are a few shops where you can buy souvenirs, but doesn’t have that Tourist Trap feel of summer in downtown Galway or parts of Dublin.
Outside of town, though, there’s Blarney Castle, site of the famed Blarney Stone, one of the biggest tourist destinations in Ireland. Fortunately for us, (1) it’s a short ride on public transit, so less than €2 each way, and (2) it’s way off-season, so it wasn’t crowded at all.
This sign was a fair distance from the castle, indicating how long the lines can be in the summer. We did not wait on any lines.
The real surprise of the trip was how large and lovely the gardens are. We didn’t even walk all the paths, as there are some that extend outward through the fields and forests and along the river, and around a lake that we didn’t even see. Even so, we spent more time walking through the gardens than we did in the castle itself.
Daffodils and crocuses at the base of the castle. We followed this trail along the river to the Fern Garden, but we could have continued on a nearly 2-hour hike through the forest and around a lake.The waterfall in the Fern Garden.
The path through the fern garden.
An unexpected find, and an unidentified flower.A tiki troll under a bridge
There are also a number of impressive trees throughout the arboreteums. I thought they some looked familiar, and indeed, they were not native, but were cedars from Northern California.
In addition to the castle, there is a much newer (1874) building on the property, a mansion that was currently closed for renovations. That is one downside to touring in the off-season…sometimes things are simply closed.
There are a cluster of gardens on the other side of the castle with whimsical names — Wishing Steps, Witches Kitchen, Druids Circle. They all sort of blend together though, in fact, we got a bit lost trying to figure out what was where. Is that the Sacrificial Altar? Or just a tree stump? Is that big tree the Irish Tree of the Year, or some other big tree?
It was this big tree.
There was also a “Pinetum”, essentially an arboretum focusing on pine trees, that struck me more like a rock garden. Also, another waterfall, and a pond.
Then there was the Fairy Glade. I wish our grandkids had been with us, because I’m sure they would have had better luck spotting the fairies than we did!
So after several hours touring the gardens, we finally went up to the castle.
Unlike other castles we’ve seen, which have essentially been military fortresses, people actually lived here. But it was also a fortress. So, instead of having a coat rack in the front hall so you could hang up guests’ coats, there was a “murder hole” so you could pouring boiling oil on their heads.
Some parts are in better repair than others. There was also a tower similar to the one on the right that was surrounded by scaffolding as repairs were being made.
There were a few other people around, but really, we had the place almost to ourselves. The rooms are cold and mostly dark, and except for the main hall, small, with claustrophobia-inducing doorways and stairwells. You could really get a sense of how bleak life must have felt even for those who could afford the fancy real estate of the time. I don’t think you would really be able to get a good sense of the space crammed in hundreds of people, cranky from being on line for over an hour, just wanting to kiss the damn stone and get back to the bus to the cruise ship.
No, the ceiling isn’t that high…the floor is missing. There would have been another floor, so the fireplace would be in a normal position, not halfway up the wall. It did allow for a nice shot looking down at the entryway, though.
It’s a long walk up a very winding staircase to get to the top. In some places the ceiling is quite low. Once at the top, though, you’re rewarded by fresh air and a lovely view.The castle grounds, and the village of Blarney.
We had the ramparts to ourselves except for two very bored looking workers who are there specifically to help lower people down to kiss the Blarney Stone. I was glad to see they had a bottle of disinfectant spray nearby. There are some odd traditions in this world, but this one strikes me as one of the dumbest. Even if there weren’t a pandemic going on, no way am I going to kiss some stupid rock.
After this we poked around in some shops, but most of the restaurants were closed, so we caught the bus back into town.
Barry has been better than I about keeping up with our travels. I have some catching up to do! Be sure to check out his posts as well. He takes better photos with a better camera!
Here are a few of our travels on the south side of Cork, and beyond.
One of our first walks south of city centre we discovered the Elizabeth Fort, which Barry describes fully in his post. I used the opportunity to take a few shots of the surrounding neighborhood.
Looking west and north from Elizabeth Fort; River Lee
That large construction project with the crane is at the opposite end of Main Street from our apartment. It’s walled off from the street, so you can’t see much of what’s going on inside. On the wall, they list the architect, builders, etc., and I was interested to see that they also have an archaeologist on the project.
The site was in the news today, when a “treasure trove” of documents from the 1790‘s were found in an old safe. Apparently at the heart of the construction is an old Beamish brewery, that from the photos appears similar to the Tudor style building below. The documents are related to that and to properties all around the city.
Looking down from Elizabeth Fort at the immediate neighborhood; St. Fin Barre’s cathedral grounds is the greenery to the left.
We also walked around St. Fin Barre’s cathedral a bit. There was a service going on so we did not go inside. The architecture was quite stunning — especially the gargoyles.
St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral
My favorite part of this trip, though, was discovering the labyrinth, which was lovely to walk. I may return.
So peaceful!
We found ourselves back in this part of town recently, and decided to venture a little further out to The Lough, a small urban lake.
A nice place to sit and enjoy the view, except that it rained earlier and the bench was wet. I’m guessing that’s a frequent issue. There were two walkways, one right next to the water, the other a little further out. Lots of waterfowl, although they seem to be mostly hiding in this picture.
We took another impromptu walk recently to Blackrock Pier. We’d run an errand on that side of town, decided to have brunch there, and then just kept walking. We’d been out that way before, to Blackrock Castle, but this time, we walked along the river.
Before we reached the river, we walked through one of the more industrial neighborhoods than we’d seen to date. We were surprised that the sidewalk was so much wider and better paved than in most of the city, where a lot of the sidewalks are quite old. There were tons of joggers for a neighborhood that didn’t seem to generate a lot of pedestrian traffic. But that road connected to the greenway along the river, than in turn intersects with a greenway that goes a considerable way south of the city (which we hope to visit this month!) So the sidewalk was truly as much a greenway as a sidewalk.
Barry, not jogging on the greenway.One view across to the north side of the river. I love this row of houses.The greenway also ran alongside a park surrounding this small lake. Daffodils have been in bloom everywhere we’ve been, all month long.Some port activity on the river. If you look to the right of the ship, you can see Blackrock Castle. We had a beer in an inn at the pier, and watched them unload the shipping containers, which was oddly mesmerizing.I’m not sure why they call this little village Blackrock Pier, since there is no docks or marina and very few boats. There was this little enclosed oval of water, surrounded by a walkway and benches, but judging by how it looks at low tide, I can’t imagine many boats docking here!
I wrote earlier about our walk out to the village/neighborhood of Douglas. It was one of our longer walks, but we managed it without hopping a bus either way. This week we decided to go even further south, though, to the harbor village of Crosshaven. Be sure to look at Barry’s photos from this trip, the one of the sailboats and the wind turbine is spectacular!
This was our first trip that was long enough that we had to take the bus both there and back. The bus ride was about 40-45 minutes long. We quickly discovered that the best seats for curious tourists are the front seats on the top of the double decker.
Some of the countryside south of Cork, between Douglas and Carragaline.Carragaline had a lovely old town with a river running through it, but it was also our first look at U.S.-style suburban sprawl.The village of Crosshaven.The Owenabue River empties into Cork Harbour at Crosshaven. You really need to look at Barry’s post to see his photo of this scene!
This was the first place we saw actual pleasure boats. I’ve been surprised that in the Lee River and Cork Harbour in other places, all the boats have been industrial, with nary a marina to be seen. This was the first place we saw sailboats, and there were lots of them! There appeared to be three different sailing classes going on, as pods of white, red/blue/white, and translucent/red boats went around in circles, or proceeded downwind into the harbor.
There wasn’t a greenway here, but there was a “scenic walk”, a one-lane residential road that went up the hill along the harbor to Camden Fort Meagher.
I am sure this edifice at Camden Fort Meagher has profound historical significance, but I really didn’t pay attention. It was much more pleasurable to watch the sailboats in the harbor.
There were other roads and paths that went further, or that cut across the peninsula to the ocean, but this wasn’t a day we were up for a big walk, so we went back into the village for lunch at a lovely pub.
I am becoming spoiled by having Guinness, Murphy’s, and Beamish on tap absolutely everywhere we go. We’ve both discovered that Murphy’s is our favorite.I love my traveling companion!
We’ll be heading south again today on the 10:05 bus to Kinsale.
Days slip past easily in Cork. We’re exploring something new almost daily, and, when we’re not, we’re recovering from our explorations. Sunday, mostly on the recommendation of some folks we’ve met here, we took the bus down to Crosshaven. Tuesday we put on our tourist hats and took a bus around the ring of Kerry. Today’s been a successful day of errands, including repairing a camera lens, printing out some travel documents, tracking down hard to find vitamins, and topping up our mobile plan.
Here’s a little bit from our Sunday trip. Crosshaven was our longest ride on Bus Eirann so far, about 45 minutes from town. We passed the first 1960s syle car based suburb of the trip, outside of Carrigaline. As a friend back home pointed out, it’s still got narrow lanes, bike lanes, and sidewalks, but it’s also not a convenient bus ride or walk to shopping. As a result, the roads get pretty congested, especially during rush hours. Old town Carrigaline, on the other hand, was charming, but congested. Of course, i made the expected joke about catching the 220 bus on our next trip. Whatever it takes.
But, you go to Crosshaven for the harbor views, and they are worth the trip.
I assume the outdoor section of the arcade/amusement park is operational in season, but there’s something about on in the off-season that fascinates me. Occasionally, we visit the Jefferson Pools, in Bath County, Virginia. Across the road, is the Warm Springs Inn. The Inn was run, and may still be, it’s been a few years since we’ve been there as the Pools have been closed for renovations for a while, by a couple who have traveled with various carnivals. They kept some rides and stuff behind the inn, and I loved walking around back there.
We climbed to the top of the hill behind the town, where Camden Fort Meagher sits adjacent to the GAA fields. It was closed for the season as well. We’d been told that the far side of the peninsula, Church Bay, was the really pretty part. Sadly, we weren’t up to the extra mile or so of trekking, as it would have meant a long hike back up the hill. Maybe next time.
I mentioned that we’d tried to anticipate all the things that could go wrong on a lengthy trip and prepare for them. Obviously we couldn’t predict a global pandemic, but we did pay for most everything using cards that provide travel insurance, and we bought pretty comprehensive health insurance at a surprisingly reasonable price with a very low deductible. So, yay us. It’ll be very disappointing if our little side trips to Dublin and Paris later in the month have to be cancelled, or worse, our 3 weeks in Portugal in April, but we’ll deal with that if it happens.
Neither could we have predicted a stock market crash, whose ramifications on our savings we’ll have to deal with on our return. But again, much of the trip was paid off in advance, we live pretty frugally, and our budget so far is unaffected.
But hey, on to our trip so far.
Our apartment here in town is possibly the best location available. This past Saturday, for instance, we walked to a farmers market, fancy gourmet shop, 3 supermarkets, and the English Market to pick up food, dry goods, and booze. For the most part, fruits and vegetables (or veg, in the local vernacular) are cheaper than back home, often significantly so. Avocados right now are about 70 cents each. Red & yellow bell peppers similarly priced. Potatoes around 50 cents/lb ($1.20/kilo). Kerrygold butter is roughly $3.00/lb; other brands of Irish butter are much less, and just as good.
On the other hand, booze is quite expensive. Standard size bottle is 700 ml, so about 8% smaller than US bottles. This local gin, one of the least expensive, is a little over $25.
On the other hand, the generic Indian tonic water at Tesco is comparable to any of the craft tonic waters that have sprung up in the States, and it’s a quarter a liter.
So, eating and drinking in the apartment, which we do maybe half the time, is probably cheaper than back home. And the streaky rashers i bought the other day at The English Market for under $3/lb were better than any bacon i’ve had in the US in a good long while.
This is the view down our block, probably taken on a Sunday morning last fall. There’s Indian, Malaysian, kebabs, pizza, and tacos within two blocks. Two further blocks, and more pub food than i can count. We’ve ended up with The Silly Goose as our local – they have a Wings and Pint special for 10 Euro, which includes essentially a full order of pretty decent wings.
Looking south on Main Street, a block or two from our apartment.The beginning of “Pub Row” on Washington Street, 4 blocks from our apartment.
The bartenders and cook at the Goose all remembered our names the second time we went in, always a good sign. Barry, in the kitchen, took the time to fill us in on some local scenic spots off the tourist trail. We got to visit Crosshaven yesterday on his suggestion.
Chris runs a small gaming cafe called Tabletop about 3 blocks away. We’ve spent a few rainy afternoons there our first month, learning a few new games (Unearth and 7 Wonders, if you’re curious.)
Jack and Leon behind the bar at The Old Town Whiskey Bar provided us with an extensive history lesson of Irish distilling, and a wide range of whiskeys to taste a couple of weeks ago.
We’ve been out to the theater twice so far. The Everyman is a larger, and more ornate room that seats about 600 people. The production we saw there, A Holy Show, is based on a real event, when an Aer Lingus flight was hijacked by an ex-monk, and spent 7 tense hours on the tarmac in Paris. We also went to the Cork Arts Theatre, a more intimate venue, to see a production of The Parish. The funny story about that night is we showed up without tickets, only to learn that the show was sold out. But it was pouring rain outside, so we chatted with the box office attendant for a bit before heading back outside to continue our night. Before we left, the manager came by, and said he had gotten a call from a patron who had two extra tickets that she wasn’t going to use. He gave us her phone number (!), Claire called her, and we met in the lobby a few minutes before curtain and acquired tickets. Theresa turned out to be a charming lady, and after we met her sister and brother-in-law, i said to Claire that he had clearly been to Blarney and kissed the stone. Both plays were two person productions, with each actor playing multiple parts. The Parish was written pretty much about rural County Cork, so there were a lot of local references that went right over our heads. But funny people are funny, no matter the specificities, and we enjoyed it very much.
We’ve also fallen in with a science fiction/fantasy reading group. In February, we read the short novel This is How You Lose The Time War, and the dozen or so of us had a lively and wide-ranging two hour discussion over a few pints. For March, we’re slogging through Neal Stephenson’s ridiculously long Seveneves, about which i’ve shared some thoughts on Facebook previously. Let’s just say that, having finished this thing, i don’t have any greater opinion of it. Should be a fun group next week.
More regular photo blogging to come this week. Thanks for following along!
We left Durham on the morning of 29 January, passingthrough Philadelphia on the way to Dublin, where we arrived after the overnight flight on the morning of the 30th. Rented a car in Dublin and drove through Kildare to Athlone, where we spent a few nights in the town of Claire’s grandfather’s last Irish residence.
The trip got off to an auspicious start, as we shared our flight with the legendary John Prine.
We also stopped at St. Brigid’s Well, one of several sites to share that name, in Kildare. St. Brigid’s Day, 1 February, is supposedly the second most observed saint’s day in Ireland, but we saw very little of that when we arrived in Cork on the first.
We drank some of Sean’s whiskey and ale, from the oldest pub in Ireland, and probably in Europe, dating back to the year 900 AD.
All of that was prep for our 60 day stay in Cork City, which we are halfway through. Good time to take stock.
Before we left North Carolina, we went through what we thought was a comprehensive checklist of things that could go wrong, and prepared as well as we could. We hired an arborist to to evaluate and take down trees which might threaten the house, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to eliminate the intermittent failures in the fridge. The workaround appears to have taken, though, so we’ll deal with that on our return.
Our main concerns in Ireland were for the weather and the exchange rate. We have no control over either, of course, other than to prepare. Our rain gear has worked out. That’s good news, as Cork received roughly twice as much rain this February as in any previous. It’s been colder than anticipated, but still above freezing on even the coldest nights. Even on our arrival, the sun was setting at 6, so that wasn’t much of an issue. I guess we’re pretty far west in the time zone, because the first week we were here it wasn’t getting light until 8:30 or so. But now, three weeks out from the equinox, it’s getting light before 8, and staying light until nearly 7.
The first crescent of the new moon and Venus have been dancing together a few nights each month after sunset. We have a great view of the western sky from our balcony. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated, and i’ve missed out on catching any good photos. Should get one more chance in 26 days just before we leave.
We’ve walked all throughout the city, averaging better than 5 miles a day. As far east as Blackrock Castle, and south to the suburb of Douglas.
North to Glen River Park, and west to where the river splits into the two branches that turn City Center into an island.
Before leaving the US, we had thought about booking a kayak tour around the Island. But having walked around the whole thing, and seen the river in its various angry stages, neither of us is in the mood for that.
Can’t talk about Ireland without talking about beer and whiskey. Our first visit three years ago, we mostly stuck with the Guinness regardless of where in the country we were. Here in Cork, it’s been the local brews, Murphy’s and Beamish. Pro tip from one of our bartenders – the Beamish is better in the Douglas Street pubs, and i can’t say he was wrong.
As in the US, craft brewing has made some inroads against the big brewers. Unlike the US, i can’t say they’re an improvement over the traditional beers. We are walking distance to 3 of Cork’s small breweries, Franciscan Well, Rising Sons, and Elbow Lane. Of those, i thought Elbow Lane had the best beers, but it’s mostly a high end restaurant rather than a drinking establishment. Rising Sons is a great place to watch sporting events, and Franciscan Well is a nice little live performance room, but neither has beers that struck me as superior to the Murphy’s, or even Guinness.
The big distillery in these parts is in Midleton. The old part is now used for public tours, while most of the whiskey is produced in the modern, off-limits distillery. We also did a craft whiskey tasting at one of the local establishments, and came up with some favorites that may not be available for purchase in the states. Could be a stop at the duty free shop is in our future on the way home. Midleton is also home to the Kindred Spirits monument. Full blog posts about our visit below.
Later on, some thoughts about food and people. But right now, the sun is shining, and we’re headed out the door to Cross Haven.
Cork Spring 