The Land of Eire--Part III

Blarney Castle.

Here I am kissing the Blarney Stone.

        On the morning of the 17th, after breakfast and Palm Sunday Mass at the local church, Tim, Jonathan, and I drove for a little over two hours to Cork, where we stayed at Jurys Inn Hotel.  It was a fairly nice hotel, right along the river, which opened wide enough to have a couple French Navy ships dock there.  Cork is similar to the size of Rochester, MN, both in size of buildings, area, and population.  We were all pretty tired, so we slept for about four hours and then walked around, looking for a place to eat.  Unfortunately, there really wasn't anywhere to eat, aside from a Subway and this fried chicken place, which was sub-par at best.  Also, the people didn't seem to be as nice as those in Camp, and we all kind of wished we had stayed there the whole time, especially when we were standing on a corner, and a guy in a car shouted out to a sketchy guy with long hair and trench coat, "Get a haircut you (blanking) (blank)!"  To which Jonathan said, "Welcome to Cork!"  So we ended up going to the fried chicken place, which was nowhere even close to KFC, Popeye's or Raising Cane's.  The redeeming part was that there was a digital jukebox there, and I was able to play Bruce Springsteen's "Badlands" and Queen's "One Vision" for 50 euro cents each.  We later went to a real pub, had some beer, watched a Spanish League soccer match, and went back to the hotel.

Marina of Kinsale.

        The next day, which was really sunny and warm, I got up, had the hotel Irish Breakfast buffet, which wasn't too bad, and we headed out to Blarney, which is northwest of Cork.  We went into the Blarney Castle, kissed the Blarney Stone, and walked around the estate for awhile.  The really neat thing is that a noble family, who maintains the castle, still lives in the Blarney House, which is about a quarter mile or so away from the castle; there are also tours there for four hours per day, six days a week, which is impressive, considering that it is actually an active home.  The grounds are really beautiful and are well maintained.  There is also more or less a 30 minute hiking trail at the opposite end of the grounds (away from the Blarney House).

A couple streets in Kinsale.

        We then drove down to Kinsale, which is much smaller than Cork, and is a fishing town on the southern coast of Ireland, about 25 km from Cork.  I really enjoyed it simply because it is smaller than Cork, and has the feel of Dingle.  We walked around for a bit and then ducked into a pub for lunch.  I had hot seafood chowder and warm bread, and we just sat around for close to an hour and a half, just talking and relaxing.  Afterward, we walked down by the bay and through the winding streets, stopping in at the churches and taking in the fact that we were in a small town in Ireland, which was much better than being in Cork, and like being in Camp.  One final note on the city of Cork--there is not much to see there, and I would honestly not recommend going there, because there truly isn't that much to see or do, but I suppose it is a good in-between point for Blarney and Kinsale, among other places, I'm sure.