A few more days in Cork and Waterford
As I mentioned in my previous entry, Breda and I went to Ireland recently for a family wedding. Afterwards we stayed in Cork City for about a week, then spent a few days visiting her sisters.
In Cork, we stayed at the Ashley Hotel. This is a bit (OK, very) old-fashioned, but the food was excellent, and the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome.
We used the sightseeing tour bus, which stopped near the hotel. At €15 for adults, it's a bit pricey if you just want to go round once, but you can hop on and off whenever you like, and the ticket is valid for two days. The pre-recorded commentary is clear and informative, though sometimes hard to hear on the open part of the upper deck.
The first place we visited off the tour bus was Cork City Gaol. This gives a good insight into the harsh conditions inflicted on 19th-century prisoners. In some ways they were an improvement on what came before, where a long list of offences were punishable by death or transportation to Australia. Life for the wardens wasn't much better than for the prisoners, though at least they had fireplaces in their rooms. A few years after the gaol closed, it reopened as a radio station, and the upper floor has a little exhibition about the history of this.
Next we visited the Butter Museum. (Yes, really. Only in Ireland, eh?) This starts with a somewhat dated video about how Irish dairy produce became a worldwide brand. The best bit of this is a clip from an advert that claimed Irish cheese is matured to the sound of harps. (And of course when the cheese is ready, they use the harps to cut the cheese into slices.) The rest of the ground floor is about traditional methods of butter making (very labour-intensive, as most things were before mechanisation). The building used to be a butter market in the days before refrigeration, and the upper floor is given to the history of this.
Near the Butter Museum are the Shandon Bells and Tower. These are part of a church. You can go up the tower and have a go at ringing the bells yourself. There's a book of tunes next to the ropes, and when we were eating our lunch in the churchyard, we heard a surprisingly good rendition of La Marseillaise. After ringing the bells, you can carry on up the tower to see views of the city. The staircases get narrower and steeper as you go on, and there's an awkward part near the top where you have to twist around and bend down to get to the next set of steps. I can see that bit finding its way into a future story...
Just off the tour bus route and not mentioned on the commentary is the Old Cork Waterworks. This is partly a museum about the history of the city's water supply and partly an educational centre that teaches STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to groups of schoolchildren. I was the only visitor there, which was a bit disconcerting given my usual experiences with museums. On the bright side, I had a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation with the guide.
Venturing further afield, we took a trip to Spike Island. This sits in the middle of what's officially Cork Harbour, though it's a long way downstream from the city proper, and the nearest settlement on the mainland is Cobh ("Cove"), from where you take a boat to reach the island. It's claimed there was a monastery here in the sixth century, though no archaeological trace of it has been found. From the eighteenth century, a fort defended the harbour. Unlike many other forts and castles I've visited, it's almost intact, as nobody ever attacked it. At various times, the fort was used as a prison, and apparently one of Breda's grandfathers was held there during the War of Independence. From the tops of the walls, you can see panoramic views of the harbour, which (at least on a sunny day like we had) are quite picturesque.
I'll finish with a couple of restaurant recommendations. I don't usually do these, as the sorts of places I normally eat are doing fine without any help from me. But I was impressed with Son of a Bun on McCurtin Street and 14A on French Church Street (just off Patrick Street), both in Cork. Son of a Bun, as you can probably guess, does burgers, and very good ones too. I had the black pudding burger (well, we were in Ireland...) 14A has a great early bird menu that offers three courses for €20. I had a generous portion of chicken wings, a melt-in-the-mouth piece of salmon and a delicious slice of apple pie. (I would've gone for my usual chocolate cake, but was feeling a bit full after the first two courses.)
And now, back to editing...
In Cork, we stayed at the Ashley Hotel. This is a bit (OK, very) old-fashioned, but the food was excellent, and the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome.
We used the sightseeing tour bus, which stopped near the hotel. At €15 for adults, it's a bit pricey if you just want to go round once, but you can hop on and off whenever you like, and the ticket is valid for two days. The pre-recorded commentary is clear and informative, though sometimes hard to hear on the open part of the upper deck.
The first place we visited off the tour bus was Cork City Gaol. This gives a good insight into the harsh conditions inflicted on 19th-century prisoners. In some ways they were an improvement on what came before, where a long list of offences were punishable by death or transportation to Australia. Life for the wardens wasn't much better than for the prisoners, though at least they had fireplaces in their rooms. A few years after the gaol closed, it reopened as a radio station, and the upper floor has a little exhibition about the history of this.
Next we visited the Butter Museum. (Yes, really. Only in Ireland, eh?) This starts with a somewhat dated video about how Irish dairy produce became a worldwide brand. The best bit of this is a clip from an advert that claimed Irish cheese is matured to the sound of harps. (And of course when the cheese is ready, they use the harps to cut the cheese into slices.) The rest of the ground floor is about traditional methods of butter making (very labour-intensive, as most things were before mechanisation). The building used to be a butter market in the days before refrigeration, and the upper floor is given to the history of this.
Near the Butter Museum are the Shandon Bells and Tower. These are part of a church. You can go up the tower and have a go at ringing the bells yourself. There's a book of tunes next to the ropes, and when we were eating our lunch in the churchyard, we heard a surprisingly good rendition of La Marseillaise. After ringing the bells, you can carry on up the tower to see views of the city. The staircases get narrower and steeper as you go on, and there's an awkward part near the top where you have to twist around and bend down to get to the next set of steps. I can see that bit finding its way into a future story...
Just off the tour bus route and not mentioned on the commentary is the Old Cork Waterworks. This is partly a museum about the history of the city's water supply and partly an educational centre that teaches STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to groups of schoolchildren. I was the only visitor there, which was a bit disconcerting given my usual experiences with museums. On the bright side, I had a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation with the guide.
Venturing further afield, we took a trip to Spike Island. This sits in the middle of what's officially Cork Harbour, though it's a long way downstream from the city proper, and the nearest settlement on the mainland is Cobh ("Cove"), from where you take a boat to reach the island. It's claimed there was a monastery here in the sixth century, though no archaeological trace of it has been found. From the eighteenth century, a fort defended the harbour. Unlike many other forts and castles I've visited, it's almost intact, as nobody ever attacked it. At various times, the fort was used as a prison, and apparently one of Breda's grandfathers was held there during the War of Independence. From the tops of the walls, you can see panoramic views of the harbour, which (at least on a sunny day like we had) are quite picturesque.
I'll finish with a couple of restaurant recommendations. I don't usually do these, as the sorts of places I normally eat are doing fine without any help from me. But I was impressed with Son of a Bun on McCurtin Street and 14A on French Church Street (just off Patrick Street), both in Cork. Son of a Bun, as you can probably guess, does burgers, and very good ones too. I had the black pudding burger (well, we were in Ireland...) 14A has a great early bird menu that offers three courses for €20. I had a generous portion of chicken wings, a melt-in-the-mouth piece of salmon and a delicious slice of apple pie. (I would've gone for my usual chocolate cake, but was feeling a bit full after the first two courses.)
And now, back to editing...
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