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21.07.2009
Up until now, we had only seen "typical Irish landscape" during our Holidays. So we decided to visit an Irish city for a change. The closest bigger city to be reached from Glengarriff is Cork. So off we went!
In order to get to Cork we put our bikes into the regular bus (Bus Eirann). That is no problem in Ireland, as long as you are at the bus stop early, you do not want to ride during peak hours, and you do ask nicely. However you should be aware that the bikes do not get better from skidding from one side to the other of the almost empty and not cushioned "belly" of an Irish bus. Fortunately, our bikes survived the torture with only some scratches and a squeaking pedal.
In Cork, we packed our stuff on the bikes again and went straight to the tourist information centre. That is still the best and safest way to find B&B accommodation if you have not booked in advance. Of course, there are campgrounds and youth hostels in Cork, but in high season they are sometimes fully booked as well and therefore not easier to find than B&Bs. We were lucky and found a very nice B&B at only 2kms from the city centre on the Western Road at a price of IrP 15.00 per person and night. We hung up all our wet clothes to dry, looked at the map and decided to ride to Blarney.
As Blarney is only approx. 10kms north of Cork, we thought that the tour to Blarney would be very easy without luggage. But we soon realised that we had not studied the map well enough, because the first two kilometres still within Cork lead steaply up a hill. On top of the hill you have a beautiful view over Cork County. The sun was shining, and we were in a brilliant mood.
Blarney Castle is an old ruin situated right on the entry of the village of Blarney. It probably would not be even half as popular and visited if it was not for the saga of Blarney Stone. This stone will give you eternal colloquial abilities if you kiss it. And now there is a daily mass of pilgrims who go to the castle, climb up the old stone steps and queue up at the long line of waiting people. When it is your turn, you have to sit on the castle wall with your back facing the outside, you lean back as far as you can and kiss the stone on the outside from underneath. With this procedure, there is a professional photographer who takes a picture and sells it later together with a certificate of the Blarney Kiss.
Of course, it is possible to visit Blarney Castle without kissing the stone. This might save money, nerves and time that can e.g. be used to go to the nearby Blarney House. We did that and were very happy with our decision.
Blarney House is (just like Bantry House; see tenth day) an ancient siege of Lords. Other than in Bantry, here is the house still lived in and has not been turned into a museum. Therefore the tour is more interesting. The owners usually are away for the summer and allow guided tours while they stay in some other nice place. Inside the house are antique furniture and drawings, outside there is a beautiful garden with many old and exotic trees.
After having seen the two sights of Blarney we saw no reason to go into the overcrowded shops. Instead, we took the bikes slowly back to Cork. There, we treated ourselves with the luxury of a warm shower in the room of our B&B and prepared for the nightlife.
With its approx. 150000 inhabitants Cork is the second biggest Irish city after Dublin. However, Cork cannot be compared with major American or German cities. Cork is the home of Murphy's Stout (competitor of Guinness), there are great pubs, a big university and a nice atmosphere and character. The city centre of Cork mainly consists of four roads and their connections: St. Patricks Street, Oliver Plunkett Street, South Mall, Grand Parade. Here, you will find all the shopping, dining and drinking you want. It should not be a problem to suit ones taste, but it is difficult to find a place where you can eat "typical Irish" food without having to pay loads of money. Maybe you should leave that for the smaller villages and plan more burgers, pizza, sandwiches, etc. for Cork.
On every corner, you will find pubs - as in every other Irish town. In the above mentioned streets, most of the pubs play live music. If you want to meet local people, it might be a good idea to go to a smaller pub without live music. Chances are better to get a conversation going there. But be warned: the Cork accent is very special and not too easy to understand (at least not for Germans). We thought often that the person to whom we were talking gave us answers in Gaelic and were surprised to find out that he tried his best and slowest English! But in the end we always understood each other.
Near the end of our holidays we wanted to go the sea again and were looking for a worthwile place close enough to be reached by bike. Kinsale, which is a very nice little harbour town, was too far for a half-day tour, otherwise I can only recommend it (I know it from an earlier visit to Ireland). After a short discussion we decided to go to Cobh at some 20kms from Cork.
Our guide book described Cobh as "colourful and pittoresque", so we decided for a visit of the departure town of the Titanic. Cobh is the harbour of Cork and presents itself as such. We realised in Cobh that you cannot appreciate the town unless you are really deaply interested in either ships, emigration or the Titanic. The road to Cobh is a speedway with many trucks, which was not very comfortable for us on our bikes. The air in Cobh smells like harbour (oil, rotten algaae, emmissions). The only things to see are the railroad station that has been turned into an emigration museum, the pier and the cathedral. There is no beach promenade or anything similar to stroll along. And to make things worse, the bike repair kit was stolen from our bikes while we had locked them at the pier.
So we left Cobh with little good memories and were happy not to run into more problems on our way back. In Cork, we strolled along the streets, looked up the best bus for the next day to Killarney, and chilled out in a pub with Guinness and Whiskey.
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