October, 2015
Welcome to Cork, Ireland’s second largest city and effectively an island, as the River Lee runs through it with the main city centre located on the island. Cork is a University city with cheap pub food and a bustling night life. There are plenty of activities to be found and it’s a great city to visit. Here’s a quick summary of my favourite things in Cork.
Take time to explore the Cork City Gaol. This was a jail until the early 20th century before becoming Cork’s first radio station until the 1950s. Now a tourist attraction, which you can explore on your own or with an audio tour. The Gaol shows restored cells with models of suffering prisoners and sadistic guards, providing a sense of how times were for prisoners’ centuries ago. The most common crime then was that of poverty, where inmates had been sentenced to hard labour for stealing loaves of bread.
Do you believe in the luck of the Irish? Well a trip to Cork isn’t complete without a visit to the Blarney Castle where you have the opportunity to kiss the Blarney stone. Although it is touristy and a wee bit crowded, it is nice to wander the walking paths in the gardens around the castle. Visiting this castle will take some time as it involves so much more than just kissing a slab of stone. The castle itself is worth exploring and is a self-guided tour exploring various rooms, crevices and even a dungeon. When you have reached the top, you will find the stone of eloquence and if you want to kiss it, it will involve lying on your back, leaning backwards and kissing the stone upside down. You can opt for the paid photo, but honestly it is not that flattering. After the castle, explore the grounds checking out the wishing steps, the fern garden, the ice house, the poisonous garden, the witch stone, a fairy garden, dolmen, a badgers cave and the druids cave…the gardens will take you everywhere. There is also the Blarney House which looks like another castle, but only open in the summer months. If you are feeling up to more walking, you can head out to the lake. We visited the Blarney Woolen Mills where D opted for the warmest wool toque and me, a glorious wool sweater – our souvenirs from this trip! And since we packed carry-on only, I had to wear this sweater on the plane ride home as it was too big to pack! It is super warm and I still enjoy fall days cuddled up in this sweater.
Spend the remainder of your day touring the city, including the University grounds, walking down the grand parade towards the national monument and over the river towards the Saint Finn Barre’s Cathedral.
Of course check out the English Market, which is a covered food market in the centre of the city. This market attracts thousands of local customers each day, where the fresh produce is snapped up by the city’s restaurants to create the local flare you will dine on later!
Fortunately for us we were there during the semi-finals for the world cup and Ireland was playing. So, we found a local pub, The Oliver Plunkett, grabbed a seat at the bar, drank and ate, cheering on Ireland like the locals. Sure, we had the idea of taking in more sights, but went with the flow and spent a good part of the afternoon and evening here!
