I spent the morning saying goodbye to Dublin, and Alan, and then hopped on a bus to Cork.
After Dublin, Cork feels a bit small. It's very industrial, and most of it isn't much to look at, but the surrounding areas are beautiful. Of course it is, it's Ireland.
I spent the rest of the evening putting around town and getting a feel for the city. Downtown is mostly shopping, but I found a few pubs that had live music to check out later on. After that I headed back to the hostel to see about winding down and calling it an early night.
When I got back, I met a couple of Germans called Alex and Marcus, and they convinced me to go out. We went to this really interesting place called Old Oak, which seems to be the place everyone goes at the end of the night when they're feeling a bit rowdy. It's open the latest, and it seems the girls there have very low standards. Regardless, we had a great time dancing and drinking Guinness!
They signed my journal, and wrote me a poem in German. Luckily they were nice enough to also translate it for me. Then I was off to bed.
Dublin gets me.
Some lovely Irish countryside for you.
Street art in Cork!
Buddies :)
Day 46 (5/6)
Alex and Marcus left for Dublin in the morning, so I was all by my lonesome for the day. I had slept in after our late night, but there was still plenty of time left in the day to visit Blarney Castle. I decided, however, not to kiss the Blarney Stone.
The castle grounds were beautiful. There were gardens and druid ruins everywhere. None of which do I know the significance, because there were hardly any signs for the ruins. Regardless, it was a beautiful day for a walk through the gardens, and climbing to the top of the castle (up a spiral staircase of course).
When I got to the top there were a few old people in line to kiss the Blarney Stone. We're talking late sixties, early seventies, and I though "if they can do it, so can I." That's right, I kissed the Blarney Stone! One of the Discovery Channel's 99 things to do before you die!
Afterwards I found my way back to town and decided to check out a local brewery called Franciscan Well, who uses Jameson barrels to age their stout, and then send those barrels back for Jameson to use in their Caskmates whiskey. They had fantastic beer, and out back is a little beer garden and pizza place called Pompeii, with wood fired pizza. So tasty.
I wandered downtown to a bar called Oliver Plunkett's for some live music. The band was pretty cool. They played a lot of funk covers from the 60's and 70's. Saw a couple of east coast swing dancers getting down too and it made me miss my westies!
I actually did call it a pretty early night after that. First one in Ireland.
Beautiful Irish countryside.
I tried to ask someone to take a picture of me in front of this, but the poor guy couldn't figure out how to take a photo without his finger over the lense.
Side note: I was by myself, so I took a lot of selfies.
A Dolmen. It remains unclear when, why, and by whom these were made.
I'm currently making my wishes come true, so I didn't walk backwards down the wishing steps with my eyes closed. Plus I don't want to break anything while I'm here.
These were in the fairy garden. I don't know what they are, but I like them.
Oh look, a stone spiral staircase!
Did it, ticked that box!
That open space is what I was leaned over to kiss the stone.
The castle had a garden for poisonous plants. These are called Bleeding Hearts.
The fern garden made me feel like I was in a fairy tale.
If anyone can tell me what this flower is, I'd like to know.
Blarney House was closed, so I'm not sure what the significance is.
I petted this horse. I don't think I was supposed to, but that's okay.
Leprechauns!
Climbed in some caves under the castle. Some were the dungeons, and some were passageways to other places.
Cave selfies
Back in Cork.
Day 47 (5/7)
Woke up to some rain, so I didn't do much outside today. It's supposed to be much nicer the next few days, which is good because tomorrow I leave for Killarney, and everything I want to do there is out of doors.
I walked a short ways to St. Anne's Church. I climbed to the top of the tower and rang the bells. They even have songs you can play based on the numbers assigned to the bells. At the top of the tower I met a couple who are traveling on the same train to Killarney tomorrow, and staying at the same hostel as I am, for the same amount of time! Nice people, I'm looking forward to running into them again.
After the church I decided it was a good day for drinking whiskey. Jameson is distilled here, so I hopped on a bus. The tour was cool, we saw the old buildings that have been there since 1825 or so. They opened a new complex in 1975, so the old buildings aren't used anymore except for the tour, but they walked us through the process. It's still much the same today.
At the end of the tour we each got a glass of Jameson neat, or you could ask for a Jameson cocktail. I also got picked to do the tasting where we compared Johnny Walker Black Label, Jameson, and Jack Daniels. I never realized how petey Johnny Walker was until I tried it side by side with other whiskeys!
Now I'm back at the hostel, warm and out of the rain, trying to figure out if I want to brave the weather and go out tonight. Only time will tell.
Loving all of the street art over here!
Cork is like a very tiny San Francisco. So many hills.
Red Vs. Blue
Ringing the bells.
View from the top of the tower.
Whiskey ftw!
I didn't do this because I don't want to carry it around, but you can bottle your own Jameson.
Old chimney in the front, new distillery in the background.
The older the whiskey, the darker the color, and the more whiskey lost to evaporation (otherwise known as the angels' share).
Official Irish Whiskey Taster over here.
Leaving for Killarney in the morning. I keep hearing about how amazing it is and I'm buzzing!
No comments:
Post a Comment