February 9th-10th - The Beautiful City of Cork

On February 9th-10th, I had the opportunity to go to Cork with some of my fellow Atlantis classmates.

Some background information about Cork: 

It is the third largest city in Ireland and the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland. (Trust me.. there is a difference.)

Cork is about 2.5 - 3 hours south of Dublin, about 20 minutes from the southern coast of Ireland.

One thing that is always discussed about is the beautiful view around Ireland when you drive around it. In the picture below is an example of some of the views on the drive down to Cork.

However, nothing is ever said about the amount of stops available along the way. Honestly, anyone driving on a highway in the U.S. right now should be grateful for restroom stops within every few miles. Along the way, it took a long time for us to initially find a way to veer off the highway and, once we did, then it took a few miles before we found this restaurant in the middle of nowhere. 

We decided to stop there for both drinks, food, and to go to the bathroom (Thank God for that place!).

In the picture below, you can see that I chose to have tea and it was a great choice. I think that I may be addicted to tea with milk by the time I return. 

After we went to the restaurant, we continued our trip down to Cork with some views such as the picture below. 

When we first arrived to Cork, we couldn't figure out how to locate the hostel and nearly got into an accident due to a two-way street only having enough room to operate as a one-way street.

In fact, this was something interesting to note because this was a problem navigating in some parts of Cork and in neighboring towns outside of Cork on our journey. 

After arriving at the hostel, we decided to drop off our stuff and roam around the city centre to see what we could do here.

Long story short.. there is not much to do in the city centre of Cork during the day. The English market is a wonderful site where there is fresh meat, vegetables, fruits, and other items for sale in a market setting. We did not buy anything but it was a sweet sight to see a fresh market.

However, here are a few other pictures from around town. 

This first picture showed water falling along the rocks next to a restaurant in the city. 

For those that have ever been curious if they call anything 'American' in other countries like we call things 'French fries', etc. here is an example that they, in fact, do call things 'American' in other countries.

I do not know for a fact but I think this was one of the main streets in the city. However, I took the picture because I liked how the lights were aligned on each post. 

While walking around, there were some notable signs and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the one below. 

This is a view on the bridge overlooking the river coming into town. 

We walked inside of a church but we were not able to walk inside of this Lutheran church but I decided to take a picture of this one but not the other church (It doesn't make sense). 

Well.. this is only a tribute to IU basketball fans that Ireland does care about their coach.

As for dinner, we decided to make pasta with sausages and.... it was a disaster. Thankfully, I do not have pictures of it but I was embarrassed to have to admit of being the chef of that meal. First, I put way too much pasta into the same pot and not enough water, which many of you back home will know is a recipe for very very sticky pasta and unevenly cooked pasta as well.

Therefore, some of the pasta was WAAYY overcooked and some of the pasta was WAYYY undercooked haha. Looking back at it now, I can chuckle but I was really embarrassed about the whole situation. Furthermore, the sausages were of the cheap quality and... they stuck to the pan and caused a mess as well. All in all, I take the responsibility for the meal disaster but it is unfortunate that I was responsible for cooking for all 5 of us in that meal.

Fortunately, on Sunday, February 10th, I had a small opportunity to redeem myself by cooking.... scrambled eggs. They came out well but I still have a ways to go in terms of getting better at cooking haha.

Sunday was filled with traveling around nearby places outside of Cork.

The first place was to the world-famous Blarney Castle. Honestly, I did not know that it was famous until after I left and I did not kiss the stone for various rumors and reasons. Either way, it was 10 EU to enter and the landscape was truly beautiful. I had a nice time navigating around the castle with the group and here are a few pictures from outside the castle and the surrounding landscape.

However, if I want to be completely honest, I think it is a waste of money and the best part was actually walking around and seeing the streams, landscape, and lake. 

The lake is absolutely peaceful and breathtaking (at least for me). So if you do make a trip out to Ireland to see the Blarney Stone Castle, make sure to walk around the whole campus and take in the full beauty that it bestows. 

After our trip to Blarney Stone Castle, we drove out to Kinsale to visit the city and find the historic Charles Fort. 

Upon arriving, we initially walked around for a little bit because we were lost and wanted to glance around the town. Kinsale definitely has the feel of a typical sea port establishment: lots of places with fish or fish references, not that many shops, and a lot of water in view around the town. 

Earlier, I complained that there wasn't much to do in Cork but Kinsale was a much smaller town and most of the establishments were closed by the early evening. 

Regardless, we were fortunate that Charles Fort was open until 5 so that, when we arrived at 4, we were able to roam around for about an hour on the premise. 

My first reaction was.. 'wow' and my lasting reaction was.. 'that was amazing'.

I have a couple of pictures below to show some of the view that I saw at Charles Fort but I don't think it really captures being there and being able to see it the view in person. Maybe I was more surprised that it was a sunny day than the view itself but it was still a wonderful view and a great place to visit. 

Afterwards, we ate at a local restaurant and I finally decided to try the traditional fish and chips as my meal. I definitely understand why fish and chips are so popular in the UK and Ireland because it was delicious.

All in all, Cork and the surrounding towns around it were beautiful. If we had more time, we definitely wanted to check out Killarney but maybe we can make a trip out there before we depart from Ireland.