It’s Wednesday morning and I was totally wrong on my weather forecast yesterday. It never did stop raining in Killarney, it didn’t clear up and it was dam cold. It rained a little harder as each hour passed.
Still it was hard to leave. It’s never been easy for me to leave Killarney.
We took the 2-hour train ride into Cork and one of the things I wanted to do on this trip was take a side trip to the near-by town of Kinsale. There are busses that go every hour so we checked into our room and off we went. Kinsale is about 25km. south of Cork and it took about an hour. .
On our walk through this charming, small, seaport town, we came across “Prim’s Bookshop,” an interesting, independent used bookstore with a collection of very old books. There was a piano, a chess board, a little coffee bar, and a few chairs to sit in.
It was very cozy, and it was raining. I really love this quote they had written on the wall,
“The best moments in reading are when you come across something ~ a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things ~ which you had thought special and particular to you. And now here it is , set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours. “ Alan Bennett~ The History Boys
We’re staying at Jury’s Inn in Cork, certainly not the hotel Scott’s was in Killarney, we have a very small room but I do love the view outside our window. I mean there’s not many mornings I wake up to find four little seagulls sitting at water’s edge waiting for me to open my curtains.
Denny asked why I thought they were waiting for me, and I told him “A girl just knows these things.”
We really enjoyed seeing Kinsale, but the real highlight while being in Cork was our trip today to Cobh. Cobh is the last port the Titanic stopped at before its fateful journey. The Heritage Center gives tours of the history and the town is lovely to walk through.
Little did we know, how lucky we were to be in Cobh on this very day. When we arrived, sitting there towering over the town would be for sure the grandest of cruise ships.
Early that morning, the MSC Virtuosa arrived with 6300 passengers and 1700 crew members, one of the world’s largest cruise ships., 331 meters in length. Stunning to say the least. It was leaving that night continuing on to the U.K.
Cobh has a Beautiful cathedral, Ardeaglais Cholmain ~ St. Colman’s Cathedral. I knew I wanted to see it, I had heard it was pretty spectacular. Viewing it from the street it involved a massive climb up a very steep hill. Denny wasn’t having any of that.
I asked one of the men who was standing around near- by how one would go about getting up there, he said there were two options, I followed the path half-way up the hill and then cut over and went up the stairs, (supposed to be a short cut}.
I climbed and climbed and just when I thought my heart would burst through my chest,
there it was! There was a Mass going on, it was just ending.
I am thrilled I did it. It really was well worth it.
So today, we leave Cork City. We’ll take the 2 1/2 hour train ride to Dublin for the night and fly home tomorrow. We’ll stay our last night at the Dublin Airport Hilton. We’ve stayed here before and it’s a convenient and comfortable way to end the trip.
It’s really been a wonderful trip, but 10 days is too short. We did get a lot more rain this time, but that’s part of the beauty and ambience of Ireland.
The full Irish breakfast was delicious each morning and the only real outstanding meal we had was at the “Bar Italiano” in Dublin. We both agree you don’t come to Ireland for the food.
The biggest take away for both of us was the music. We heard fabulous music everywhere we went. One of the best being, a group of men sitting in town center Cork City yesterday.
Ireland is full of emotion. One’s life is certainly enhanced by a visit to the Emerald Isle.
I am always inspired by the elegance, love and loyalty of the Irish people.
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