We landed on Friday night and the first thing we did was get a genuine Guinness beer from the bar across the street from our bed and breakfast. Otherwise, we were all wiped out from playing with kids on the plane that we could barely keep our heads up from the table. We called it a night and went to bed.
The next day we awoke early to catch our included breakfast, which came along with the bed. This turned out to be great because it was a huge meal. We started with cereal, or really dried fruits/nuts and milk. Then we moved on to the main course. Yes, breakfast had a main course. This included eggs, two slices of thick bacon, a sausage, a sweet bread, a half of tomato, and beans. The beans felt like the odd men out, but I included them in my stomach nevertheless. We were so full by the end that we knew we weren't going to need another meal until dinner, if then.
Next, we walked into town to see the sights, which was just a center of a small city. Cork is really comparable to Granada, minus the cheap drinks and the food that comes with the cheap drinks, free of charge. It had a nice small center where the majority of stores were, but instead of shopping, we went to the Tourist Office to find out what to do. In here they told us about the Paddy Wagon, a bus tour that would take us to three different places around Cork. She highly recommend that we go because the guide is really funny and it is a great way to experience Ireland in such little time. We, of course, agreed and headed back to the center because the bus didn't arrive for another hour.
In the center we found the English Market, a place that the Queen of England had just gone. It was a market with super fresh everything: fruits, vegetables, meats, and the like. Everything looked tempting, but we were so full that smelling the food deterred our stomachs from thinking about eating more. It was still cool to see a local place to get the freshest of goods. After the English Market, we went into a store called Penney's. This place had the most ridiculous deals that I have ever seen. Sunglasses for only 3€50, bathing suits for 4€. And that was just in the guy's section. Needless to say, I bought a bathing suit for Cádiz, a place you will hear more about in the near future. But as soon as we were done here, we had to go and catch the Paddy Wagon.
The Paddy Wagon is where we spent most of our day. It was going to take us two three towns: Kinsale, Blarney, and Cobh all in around 6 hours. Our first stop was Kinsale, a small port town 20 minutes from Cork. It didn't have anything special, but it had the feel of an Irish or British town. I can't really explain what that is, so you can see the pictures on the side to understand what I'm trying to convey. We walked around this town for a while and took some pictures and then headed off to Blarney.
Blarney is the major site to go to if you are anywhere near Cork because you get to kiss the infamous Blarney Stone. This stone, said to be given to Blarney by a witch, grants the kisser the gift of gab where everyone will believe everything they say. How's it working so far because none of this actually happened! I'm just playing with you, but let's get back to the story because Blarney Castle, which houses the stone, is my favorite part.
So, we enter the grounds and the first place that we see is the Dungeon. Naturally, we have to check it out. It was cool because we actually went underground, under the castle to where they likely kept the people they never wanted to see again. There was no escape from this cave except for the way you came. We had several people bump their heads on the low hanging rocks, and I got a small scrape from shimmying my way to the back side of the cave. Once we got there, we looked all over the wall for there were people's names carved or written on it. Not from the times of the Celts, but it was still pretty cool (and kind of similar to a scene on Lost). Now that we had gone underneath the castle, it was time to go on top of it.
We descended the castle and saw all of the rooms that it held. There was a kitchen, dining room, murder room, etc. The murder room was where they poured boiling liquids down on top of invading enemies. Then we went outside and found the Poison Garden. Now, I thought that it was just a name, but the sign told me otherwise. It told us to not touch or smell the plants and that a child should be holding their adult's hand at all times. This is because there were some magically toxic plants including: wormwood, wolfsbane, nightshade, and mandrake. These are all plants that can be seen in the Harry Potter books and the signs even referenced them at times. Marijuana actually used to be in the garden but had been removed by the government. There were plants in cages, plants with spiky balls growing off of them, and plants that looked evil. There were these rose-looking plants that had a dark color to bleeding into the bright color. Me and my friend spent a good deal of time reading the signs and finding out which ones were really bad and which ones they just thought were really bad.
That was Blarney Castle in all of its glory. I bought a couple of souvenirs and then the bus was ready to pick us up to take us to Cobh, another port town about 20 minutes away. Cobh, pronounced Cove, is famous because it is the last port that the Titanic sailed from in 1912 before it sank. Luckily for us, the 100th anniversary of day that it sank. There was a giant crowd that our group leader had not expected, so he dropped us off a little further than usual and we walked into town. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go to the Titanic museum, so we did the next best thing. We went to a museum about Cobh, celebrating the 100th anniversary by showing us images of what the town was like 100 years ago. We even got to see a mini-model of the "unsinkable ship". A cruise liner actually drove by and everyone waved because I think it was reenacting the Titanic, or something. So we lucked out with Cobh, but after we were finished here we went back to Cork to plan out our night.
I have a friend currently Au Pair-ing around Cork and she promised to show us the real Cork at night. We met up with her and she took us to all of the popular local bars ending at a dance club. My goal for the night was to have one of the 3 popular stouts: Guinness, Beamish, and Murphy's. Obviously, I completed my mission giving the title of best Irish stout to Guinness (which is indeed the best in Ireland). The first few places that we went to were a little crowded, but they played nice, American, alternative music. I was surprised that each place checked for ID, not that I was worried, but in Spain, I have never been carded anywhere. Anyways, after the first few bars we ended at this place that was half dance club, half bar. In the front were all of the older people enjoying their drink, and then in the back was the younger group dancing to music. They played mostly American music, but there was one Spanish song that surprised me on the playlist, No Sigues Modas, which I hadn't heard until I got to Spain.
All in all, we had a great trip, I got to see beautiful Ireland in the daytime and then the night scene after dark. Though I wish I had spent a little more time there, I think I made the most of it and saw as much as I could. Cork is a small city, so I probably wouldn't need much more time than the 36 hours. For the future, you should look forward to La Alpujarras, a hike that API is bringing us to on Saturday. ¡Hasta Luego!
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