Corcaigh

March 20 - 21, 2015

A few weeks ago, a few of my friends and I decided to journey down south for a bit and visit our sister city (only in the sense that there is another Arcadia group there) of Cork. My main reasons for visiting Cork were to kiss the Blarney Stone which is nearby and to see a particular statue which I initially thought was in Cork but later found out was in the coastal town of Cobh (pronounced "cove" and known previously by the English name Queenstown) which is close by. That statue is of Annie Moore, the first immigrant to pass through Ellis Island on January 1, 1893. I first fell in love with Annie's story when my mom bought me the brilliant historical fiction trilogy on her by Eithne Loughrey (seriously, look them up). Anyway, I promise myself that if I was every back in Ireland, I would see the statue commemorating her leaving of Ireland. (She left Queenstown with her two brothers in December 1892). 

So now to our adventure. 

My friends Sarah, (Sarah's friend Salena from MN), Megan, Amara, and I left Galway on the lovely sunny morning of March 20. We had to be up early because our bus was at 8:30 meaning we had to leave at 8. As per usual my intention to wake up with a reasonable amount of downtime before departure failed and I had to slam down some oatmeal before hopping over to Sarah's apartment where we were all meeting. Once everyone was accounted for and the last gulp of coffee had been swallowed, we headed off into the unknown. Which was really only unknown to me because everyone else had taken buses out of the city before.

Shot of the Solar Eclipse in progress

The bus ride to Cork lasted a little over three hours (ignore the map time stamp) so we arrived at St. Patrick's Quay around noon. On the bus ride I had taken a screenshot of the map to our hostel (thanks to on-bus wifi) but unfortunately I took a picture of the map (on which the route line covered up the street names) rather than the directions. We had a general idea of where we were going but just to be sure we stopped at one of those tourist info shops and they knew where our hostel was and how to get there.

After climbing up a hill and a staircase we found our hostel hidden in random corner. We also lucked out in that our room was ready for us even though check-in is usually later in the evening. Despite the fact that we were on the third floor of a building with no elevator, we immediately agreed that we'd chosen a good hostel. Furthermore we though we were going to be in a 16 person mixed dorm but we ended up in an 8 person all women's dorm which we were all happy about.

The gorgeous view from our window (notice our rather grave neighbors...)

 Once we freshened up a bit and gotten a map from the front desk we made our way to the city centre with an eye toward finding the indoor English Market.

I was struck, as we all were, by the differences between Cork and Galway. For one thing, Cork is bigger and busier than Galway. I know that I was not initially taken with the city; it reminded me too much of Dublin. And even though I have come to like Dublin better, it's still not my favorite place in Ireland. We all agreed that Cork is a cross between Galway and Dublin and I did come to enjoy it.

The English Market, which I of course forgot to take a picture of, was part of the original English town. Inside the market was a delectable maze of food stalls, quirky little shops, and sweets galore. We all wandered around separately for a bout half an hour, those of us who were hungry grazing along the way. When everyone felt sufficiently overstimulated, we walked back out into the bright sunlight.

  

We didn't really have a set plan for the afternoon, so Salena and Amara suggested that we check out the large church that dominated the horizon. Luckily the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we had a lovely walk along the River Lee.

Along the way we saw this cafe which in hindsight we really should have tried out; it would have been fun practice. 

The church ended up being the St. Fin Barre's Cathedral and was a beautiful testament to Gothic revivalist architecture. Amara and Salena both decided to check out the inside, but as there was a 3 euro entrance fee, the rest of us opted to explore the grounds which pretty much consisted of a graveyard. The lawn was incredibly soft and thick and Sarah and Megan and I all found a spot to enjoy the warm sunshine while the others went through the church.

Now for some pictures of said cathedral:

  

  

(Photo Cred: Sarah Schuetz)

While we were lying in the grass chatting, I happened to look up and there was a guy a few feet away wearing an Iowa State sweatshirt. I immediately pointed him out to Amara who is from Iowa and she called out "Yay Iowa!" in solidarity, It turned out that not only was he from Iowa the guy walking with him was from Mankato. The MN guy was studying at UCC (University College Cork) and his friend was visiting. It amazes me sometimes how small the world can be. It was also lucky that we ran into them because they were able to direct us to the campus which was our next stop.

But first we found this rare book shop where Amara, Megan, and I lost ourselves for probably half an hour...I got to touch an etiquette booklet from the 1850s; it was so cool! 

Eventually we found our way to the UCC campus. I should mention here that it was very interesting navigating the city because the map we had been given (I think by the time we left, so in the space of 24 hours, we had five different copies of that map because every time we asked a question at the front desk they gave us a new one) was really a tourist map and didn't have the name of every street, just the biggest ones. This became problematic later on in the evening. Anyway, once we saw these in the distance we knew we were in the right place. 

  

Once inside the gates, we all decided that the UCC students officially have a more beautiful campus than we do...

  

 Their gorgeous view

  

 (Photo cred: Amara and Sarah)

Gratuitous selfie

UCC Quad

The attraction for me of UCC was the exhibit on Ogham stones. Oham was one of the earliest forms of written Irish. 

    

    

    

  

There was also this weird statue in a random alcove. I swear it looks like dementors...

Once we'd had enough history, we looked around for the Student Centre and WiFi. It's pretty sad how desperate we can get for WiFi sometimes, but this time it was for a mostly good reason. While Amara, Megan, and I had been enjoying the bookstore, Sarah and Salena had ventured across the street for some coffee. They'd asked the barista where to get the best fish and chips in town and were told that Lennox's was the only place to go. However being more of a local hangout than a tourist eatery, it was located away from the city centre in a random neighborhood. This being the case, it was not located anywhere on our map. After some backtracking and creative GPS usage we found our way to the chipper. And boy was the walk worth it! Unfortunately I think I was the only one who really enjoyed our meal, but that's life. Lennox's fish and chips were heavier than we were all used to, with much more heavily battered fish and a mammoth order of chips. The orders all came wrapped in paper though which felt awesomely authentic!

The unanimous decision after we'd finished eating was to go back to the hostel and rest for awhile as everyone was feeling rather full. We were planning on going out that night, but we didn't have a set plan. Originally we were going to be taken out by one of the Arcadia Cork students whom Sarah had met in Dublin, but he ended up not being available so he left us with a list of the best pubs instead. We managed to find our way back to the hostel reasonably well, albeit slowly. When we got back we found that another girl (whose name unfortunately eludes me more than a month later) had joined our dorm and so we sat and chatted while digesting. She told us that she had just decided to come to Ireland by herself for Spring Break and had been travelling across the country for about a week. We invited her to come out with us and she happily accepted. In doing research for our excursion Sarah had come across a microbrewery called The Franciscan Well she was interested in visiting so we turned our steps in that direction for our first stop. I was a little leery of going just because I didn't know what I would order. I assumed since they produced their own beers they wouldn't have Guinness which ended up being the case. However, I tried something new and was rewarded for my bravery. We all ended up trying the same thing (without prior discussion), the Well's brew called Rebel Red. 

Internet Owned

I don't remember having red ale before but this was absolutely amazing. It was lighter than Guinness which was nice because it was less filling, but it still had plenty of flavor which has not been my experience with lighter beers. I was really disappointed when I looked up online the sale locations and found Kerry, Cork, and two random Tesco locations in England. I resolved that I would have to return to Cork at some point before I left Ireland to have it again. Since then I have discovered that the Dunnes across from me carries it; that was a beautiful day indeed. Although bottled is not quite as good as draught, when is it ever, it was still delicious. 

Being a Friday night, Franciscan Well was pretty packed, but we finally managed to find a table and sat down to enjoy our drinks. The location was very interestingly decorated so there was a lot to see not to mention good conversation. Not long after we'd sat down though, a guy who was maybe in his late thirties took the remaining chair. We didn't begrudge him the seat as there was a shortage, but we figured he would finish his drink and leave. This ended up not being the case. He sat with us tried to flirt unsuccessfully but he ended up just being really creepy. We tried to ignore him but he really did not want to take a hint. Even though we probably would have been satisfied staying the rest of the evening at the Well rather than pub-hopping, we eventually got fed up with our interloper and headed out. 

The new girl (I think her name was Lindsay) said that she knew where our next stop, The Crane Lane, was. This turned out not really to be the case. We did eventually make it, but there was much backtracking and turning about. There was some competition between a few of our group, trying to decide which direction to go, but ultimately Sarah asked for directions and we found our way. However when we got there we discovered that the age limit was 21. We were a little surprised but we had also been told earlier in the day that age limits in Cork are somewhat arbitrary and can be set at random ages like 23. This was problematic because only half of our group was over 21. At the door they let Salena (who is a few months younger than me) in because she was almost 21 but unfortunately Megan is only 19. I think maybe if I had been in front of her (with my 21st only a week away) we might have all gotten in, but it didn't work out that way. I said there was no way I was leaving Megan to walk back to the hostel by herself despite her protests. This prompted everyone to say they would leave too. We walked around the block and then stopped because we couldn't agree on what to do. Some of us at that point were ready to just go back to the hostel after all the wandering we had done. However the rest still wanted to party so we resolved to split up. Sarah, Salena, and Lindsay? returned to The Crane Lane and Amara, Megan, and I left for home-base. 

We ended up getting mildly lost but never doubted the power of asking directions. Mostly we just needed to find the river to be able to get back. The problem was that the river split at one point which was unhelpful. Once we knew we were on the right track we stopped for some Burger King and then went back and crashed. I was so tired that I don't remember even hearing the others come in. 

The next morning we were up early because we had a busy day between Blarney Castle and a side trip to Cobh. We checked out of the hostel and helpfully left our overnight bags in their storage space so that we wouldn't have to carry them about with us. We'd eaten tea and toast offered by the hostel, but everyone was still hungry. The guy at the desk pointed us to the best place for a full Irish (or a fry-up as he called it). Salena was leery about trying it having heard rumors, but we made her try it anyway. Generally she liked it, though she passed on the puddings after having tasted them. After refueling, we found our way to the bus station. When we got there we found out that unfortunately there was no transport from Blarney to Cobh, we'd have to come back to Cork first. Furthermore where I had thought that Cobh was much closer, the train ride from Cork took an hour. Being as our bus back to Galway left at 7 and we'd have to stop to pick up or bags, it didn't make much sense to try and fit Cobh in.

We bought our bus tickets for Blarney and then sat and waited, resolving to practice our Irish in the interlude.  When the bust arrived we were all surprised to find out that Blarney was actually a village overlooked by the Castle. None of us had ever really thought about it, but in hindsight it made sense. Being as we now had the whole afternoon free, the group opted to check out the Woolen Mills before hitting up the castle. I was less interested, but I went along anyway. The store was absolutely mindboggling! You could tell that the warehouse we found ourselves in was probably an actual mill that had been refurbished. You could also tell that it was geared toward tourists, as I'm sure was the whole village. There were the woolen and linen items, but there was also jewelry, typical tourist gear, Guinness gear, and even a Waterford crystal shop. It was "Crystal Week" which meant that there were 40%-60% off sales, but I didn't see anything that I really liked (or could justify buying). Plus I had no idea how I would transport it safely. 

  

I think we ended up spending over an hour in the Woolen Mills store because everyone was so overwhelmed and had difficulty deciding what purchases to make. I avoided the sweater craze, mostly because I couldn't justify spending the money, but I did end up leaving with some postcards and a book (surprise surprise) of Irish myths translated by a famous Irish author, Lady Gregory, that I had been eyeing in Galway but found at a better price. I  think some of us were reluctant to leave the Mills because there was also free WiFi, like I've said it's been a sad problem, but eventually we made it to the castle. The following will be a virtual tour through pictures of the castle. (Since I took over a hundred pictures, I'm only going to post my favorites on here...see facebook soon for all of them)

  

  

    

I can't really explain why, but for some reason I fell in love with this tower. It just kept  drawing my eye.

  

It was cool because throughout the castle there were signs which outlined what each room was and with random facts about the castle in general. It amazed me how much they know about such an old place and dawned on me that this is the Irish version of our historic houses. Lives of families documented and remembered. 

  

This doorway was not only short but narrow, I had to angle my shoulders to get through. The stairway was also narrow which didn't bode well for what was to come. I'm not a fan of tight spaces, especially high up, so I was clinging pretty tightly to the rope. 

For reference, this was the view looking down the stairs:

  

  

Photographs courtesy of Salena Ejuwa

I kissed the stone because it's something you do, and it's cool to say I did it, but you, dear reader, can believe I will NEVER do it again. Being someone who is short-waisted, meaning my torso is not proportionate to my leg-length...*cue innumerable short jokes*, kissing the stone is rather shall we say...terrifying. My derriere was 95% off the ledge, with just the guy holding me up. Even holding onto the bars I was pretty sure I was going to plunge to my death head first. Needless to say I backed away pretty quickly. It was pretty cool, but scary as hell. 

  

I couldn't resist...

  

And here's my tower again, from a different angle,,,

  

I got separated from my group initially because I was taking so long going through each of the rooms. Then they all decided to go back up to the stone because the pictures of them kissing it hadn't turned out the first time and they didn't want to pay for the professional ones. Ultimately this meant that I was sitting outside the castle for some minutes by myself hoping that they hadn't already come out and subsequently gone looking for me. The trials of not having telephonic communications. #firstworldproblems

It turned out that they were still inside, having gone back not once but twice, and so we were all able to meet outside the gates. Our next task was to explore the grounds. I had remembered from the pictures of some of my friends who had visited last year that there was a renowned poison garden on the grounds and that was when my footsteps headed. 

It was really cool actually seeing plants I've read about in different fantasy/witchy books.

    

  

Draught of Living Death anyone?

Not to mention this one...

Possibly too soon... :(

After the Poison Garden, we hit up the Irish Garden which reminded me of what the Weasley's garden might look like, and what a garden should look like. 

        

          

I never knew many of these plants were native to Ireland!

By the time we had finished exploring the grounds, it was almost 4pm. Whoever had told us that you can do Blarney in two hours must have been joking. Maybe that's possible if you just do the stone. We didn't even go very far in the environs! If we had more time there was a lake I would have liked to see, but it was a mile walk from the castle. We looked around the village for a little bit, including a tourist shop and a delectable chocolate store, before turning our steps back to the Mills. A few of our number hadn't been able to decide on purchases the first time around and wanted to go back. I wasn't particularly excited about sitting for another hour while people browsed though, so I opted to sit and read my new book in the sunshine by the bus stop.  Luckily for me it didn't take the shoppers as long the second time around so we were able to catch the 5pm bus back to Cork.  

From the bus stop we picked up our bags before heading back across the river to rustle up some dinner. After trying a few pubs and finding most of them full, we found a little cafe that had reasonably priced food, which at that point in the excursion when all of our wallets were feeling light. When we were finished eating we processed back to the bus stop, splitting with Amara who was traveling from Cork to Dublin. 

And that is the end.