So when we last left off, I had failed to visit the town of Kanturk, but found castles and pretty stuff anyways. I am now down to the last three days in Ireland.
Thursday of last week, I decided that I wanted to see the Cork City Gaol and some of the other cool old stuff in the city. I set off in the morning and jumped on the City Centre tourist bus, which cost about 10 euro, and drives around to all the cool stuff all day. The tour is narrated, and gives some of the history of the things you are passing, and makes about six or seven stops around the city. Most of the things I wanted to see, but the gaol wasn’t, so I stopped there first, and toured the building, which is very beautiful. I was there for about two hours, taking pictures and looking around, and then I got back on the bus for the rest of the tour. Other stops I made on Thursday in Cork were at St Finbarrs Cathedral, Crawford Art Gallery, The English Market, and then I spent the rest of the day wandering around the island(s).
I also learned that the island I thought we were staying on is actually 14 islands, that quay is pronounced the same way as “key”, and a lot of the crazy city center streets were at one point rivers. It makes the crazy streets seem a little more logical.
Friday I went to Cobh, which is pronounced “Cove”, which at one point was called Queenstown. It was the final port of call for the Titanic, and where survivors of the Lusitania were brought. It was also highly involved in emigration to the United States, Canada, and Australia during the potato famine and into the twentieth century. There was a big exhibit on Cobh’s maritime adventures, and it was a beautiful town, but it was raining, so no pictures. After that, I went to Midleton to see the Jameson Whiskey Distillery, and then I went to Kinsale, but got mad at the terrible parking and one way street situation and stopped by the seaside somewhere else instead.
We had a lovely last dinner in Cork, packed, and on Saturday we spent all day in planes and airports. It was not awesome, but we got home safely.
Overall, I loved my Ireland adventure. I spent most of my time at least slightly lost, and it was pretty fun. After a while, I started figuring out where I was, but I was never exactly sure. The country was absolutely beautiful, and on the rare moments when I wasn’t completely terrified on them, the roads were kind of fun. About half of the time I couldn’t understand what people were saying due to their lovely accents, and even when I understood the words sometimes it didn’t make sense. It was a lot of fun and I would go back in a heartbeat.
Pictures are collective from the last time I put up pictures.
