Part two of our fall break trip was to County Cork.
The first day we checked out Charles Fort, a huge, massive star-shaped fort from the 1600s that has been pretty well maintained and is in a gorgeous spot. It was a perfect day and we had fun climbing around inside and outside the fort. At its busiest back in the day, the fort housed some 400 soldiers and their families.
We followed this with lunch in the adorable seaside town of Kinsale (which kind of reminded us of Lunenberg). We happened to sit outside at lunch next to what turned out to be a photo op spot so we watched everyone posing awkwardly behind us while we ate.
Finally, we drove the long was to our hotel in Cork city. We popped off at a random beach called Nohoval, and it was insanely beautiful (and muddy).
The following morning we went to Blarney Castle. David and I both kissed the stone, though Lord knows David does not need any more gift of the Blarney. ;)
The castle is on huge grounds with gardens and bewitching woods. I did not know, until recently, that the Blarney stone is at the top of the castle and that it's quite tiny and you have to hang upside down to kiss it. They cleanse it in between and have a worker there to help you safely kiss it. It's kind of ridiculous but of course you have to do it!!
In the afternoon we explored Cork city, including walking around the University College, Cork campus. We didn't enjoy the city of Cork itself as much as I had expected to, but I can see the appear if you were there visiting someone, or you were of college age. Or maybe we just didn't catch it in the right mood.
We popped into St. Finn Barre's cathedral on a whim, and ended up getting a long, one-on-one tour from the docent, who was so delighted to have us there. The stained glass was so beautiful and the organist happened to be practicing piano, which gave delightful background music to our tour. The organ there has 4000 pipes and took 2 years to refurbish recently.
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