Category: Cork City

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Cork City Ireland

Just hanging out

The initial wave of OMG Let’s go see everything has worn off a bit, so a lazy morning at the apartment doesn’t seem such a crime. I’ve traded my view of the trees in our yard and neighborhood dog walkers for watching the clouds and the seagulls floating past the window. Occasionally a parade of pigeons waddles past on the balcony.

Barry has been making good use of the laptop for editing his many photos. The appliance behind him is our combo washer/dryer. It’s very quiet, but also small and slow, so our usually routine of two loads on a Sunday night (followed by folding and an episode of Star Trek) will likely change to a small load any night we’re here at home.

Barry also cooked a huge breakfast of bangers and eggs and potatoes this morning, so we’re both moving pretty slow.

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Cork City Ireland

Cork City, West End

Being from the US, the cities that Cork most reminds me of geographically are New York and Pittsburgh. All have rivers running through their hearts, which bracket or surround a densely built island or peninsula. Pittsburgh and Cork’s rivers are eminently walkable, with footbridges that are at most a few hundred yards apart. Manhattan’s East River can be crossed on foot, but the bridges are higher, farther apart, and traverse a greater span.

Today, we walked over to Cork’s west end, where the River Lee splits into its north and south branches on its way around the island that is the city center.

We passed through University College of Cork, and i am surely not the first person to ask which is it, then, a university or a college?

Memorial to volunteers who were executed at the site of the university by the British during the war for independence in 1921.

The walking trail continues past the university to the branching of the river.

The Atkins Hall Apartments, formerly an insane asylum, now luxury apartments. Rumor has it that some of the apartments are haunted. We considered staying there, but decided it was too far (about 40 minutes) to be walking into town each day.
In the foreground, the Old Cork Waterworks. Background, St. Kevin’s Asylum, also converted to apartments but, if my eyes don’t deceive me, no longer in use as the result of a fire.

These buildings made me chuckle.

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Cork City Ireland

Street art in Cork City

First in a series.

On our first visit here, I was impressed by the extent of street art around town. We’ve only been here five days, so I haven’t yet had the chance to learn any of the history of the People’s Republic of Cork, but my guess is that it’s probably 2 or 3 core members, with a surrounding, ever-changing cast of supporters. That is, assuming they’re still active. Some of their artwork does seem relatively recent.

Not everything I’ve been able to photograph is theirs, but they are rather ubiquitous.

And they clearly have access to some large printing equipment.

My general impression is that the politics are more implied than baldly stated, but that’s not always the case.

Then, of course, there’s always Phil Lynott. His image was everywhere last time we were in Ireland. I imagine before we leave, i’ll have a whole gallery of Lynott mural photos.

Meanwhile . . .

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Cork City Ireland Traveling

We made it.

Wow, is it Monday already? We left early Wednesday for a grueling day and night of travel. The low point of which was my breaking down sobbing in the PHL airport as we shlepped across four terminals with 2 suitcases and 5 carry-ons, the high point of which was chatting with John Prine while waiting to board. Make me an angel that flies from Philadelphia!

I watched an episode of The Good Place last night which had a line to the effect of “Humans live around 80 years and they spend most of that time waiting for things to be over.” Which pretty much describes the flights, baggage, customs, car rental, and driving in Dublin.

We had one lively and idyllic stop on the way from Dublin to Athlone, at Saint Brigid’s Well. Barry took pictures, I did not, so I will defer to his posts for photographic documentation. He has about 900 pounds of camera equipment; I have my phone.

Driving here is stressful, but not because of the other-side-of-the-road stuff so much as unfamiliar signage, very narrow roads and lanes in some places, only having phone service while on Wi-Fi and therefore not being able to set or modify routes on the fly, and a navigator who hates being a passenger in a car almost as much as she hates driving. But it’s a Catholic country so I figure they accept silent Hail Mary’s even from atheists.

More soon on Athlone and Cashel, but now going to watch the light fade over the skyline and enjoy our first home-cooked meal here in Cork.

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