Cork, Dublin, and Goodbye to Eire

The last week has passed so quickly. Just last Monday we were saying our goodbyes to Chili and leaving Killarney. Today, we are in Wales at our next Trusted Housesitters stay in Beaumaris, Anglesey. I think things felt so fast because we were moving from place to place again, without a home base to return to each night. After spending 4 nights in hostels, I can say it feels really lovely to have our own space again.

From Killarney we drove to Cork, Ireland's second largest city and a far cry from the tiny, idyllic villages we had been visiting. Cork felt grittier than any other Irish city we had been to so far. For the first time, we saw litter on the street, and a hustle and bustle that felt closer to home. Compared to Seattle, Cork is still tiny--only about 224,000 people--but it is clear that people live and work there in an industry other than tourism. Even so, we found lots to do in our short visit to Cork. We arrived on Monday night and ventured out, finding a tiny pub in the central district. We got a couple of pints and chatted with a few locals, who were amused by my accent and surprised by my sense of humor. After grabbing some dinner to take back to the hostel, we ended up chatting with a fellow traveler from Glasgow, by way of India. One of the benefits of hostels is the social atmosphere, which took me back to college.

The next day, we ventured out fairly early with a couple of goals on our to-do list--essentially, we wanted to do everything that was free or cheap in the Cork City Guide. First, we embarked on some Orienteering via a scavenger hunt set up by the city. This was Calvin's idea, but I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought. Essentially, the city provided a map with outlined areas for you to look for symbols on ceramic tiles. When you found each tile, you could learn information about the historic buildings and areas you were near. It took us through the old part of the city, and gave us a fun way to start walking around to get our bearings.

Next, we went to Elizabeth Fort, which is a bit of a sister fort to Charles Fort, which we visited in Kinsale the week before. Both were sites of major battles between the Irish and the English, and each ended in English victory. This is another Star Fort, but was built earlier than Charles Fort in 1601. It is significantly smaller than the one in Kinsale, and is right in the heart of the city. From the ramparts, you can see apartment buildings across the street! Another interesting fact about Elizabeth Fort is that it was used as a holding place for women convicts in the 19th century before they were shipped to Australia. Many of these women's crimes were minor--some as small as stealing a handkerchief. The sentence was consistently 7 years, after which few women could afford the return trip to Ireland. Appallingly, many of the women reported that the conditions on the ships and in the colony were better than those they had at home, as they had 3 regular meals a day, a bed of their own, and warm clothing.

After the Fort, we took a quick walk through the English Market--an 18th century covered market that has continuously operating merchants and vendors--and grabbed a pie for lunch.

From here, we ventured on to my favorite stop of the day--the Butter Museum! While this museum isn't free, it is only €5 admission, and it is worth every penny. As a dairy connoisseur, I love every opportunity to learn more about butter, and the story of Irish butter is particularly interesting. Butter--particularly Cork highly salted butter--had long been a popular staple of ships and merchants through the port of Cork. At the beginning of the 20th century, as refrigeration methods improved, demand decreased as people no longer needed the preservable, highly salted variety of butter, and could instead rely on local methods. In the 1950s, the Irish Dairy Council began intentionally marketing Irish butter, first in Britain and then world-wide. They chose a name--Kerrygold--which would highlight the bright yellow color of the grass-fed butter, and the rest is history.

Our final stop of the day in Cork was the Mutton Lane Inn, back near the English Market. This is one of the oldest pubs in Cork, and is so named because it lives in an alley that used to serve as the route to bring sheep into the market. The pub is tiny and classic, with a wooden bar, small rooms with comfortable tables, and a few seats outside in the alley. The alley also boasts a mural depicting the history of the market, which is worth pondering over a pint. We had a couple, played some cribbage, and avoided the rain for a bit before heading back to the hostel for the night.

The next day we moved on to Dublin, our final stop in Ireland. We returned the rental car--not a scratch!--and then took a bus into the city to our next hostel. We stayed right on the southern bank of the River Liffey, a block or two west from O'Connell Street. We had been to Dublin before, so we wanted to prioritize seeing things we hadn't yet seen, as well as just taking in some of the Irish vibe before we left at the end of the week. We started with a Rick Steves' Audio Walking Tour of the southern part of the city, which took about 2 hours and was surprisingly fun. Both of us love watching his show and knew we could enjoy the content, but it was also fun to just wander around, each of us with an earbud, and take in the sights together. This tour took us through St. Steven's Green, Grafton Street, Trinity College, and Temple Bar. About 15 minutes into the tour we passed The Dawson Lounge, which is "the world's smallest pub (probably)," and since we felt that we had earned it, we stopped for a pint.

That night, after a quick dinner at the hostel, we headed back into Temple Bar to check out the legendary scene. We walked the block to Gogarty's, on the recommendation of Rick, and caught the end of a set by a duo on guitar and pipes. The pub was packed, even on a Wednesday, and it seemed like everyone was a tourist. After the intimate, authentic experiences we had in Kilfenora, Ennis, and Killarney, this felt...different. Still fun, still a good pint, but definitely not the same (and definitely more expensive). Still, we had a good time, and even ended up dancing to "Believe" by Cher with a group of women who turned out to be from a town only a half hour outside of Dublin!

The next day we started with a visit to the National Museum, which has free admission and several locations around the city. We chose to visit the archeological center, which houses ancient Celtic and Viking artifacts. We spent hours examining the displays of weapons, tools, and jewelry, and had to spend a full hour in our hostel for lunch to get the strength back for the rest of our afternoon. Fully recovered, we ventured out for the 2nd half of Rick Steves' Tour, which took us up O'Connell street and focused on the the journey to Irish Independence. We visited the Post Office (where the Easter Rising began), saw statues to leaders of the movement, and finished off at the Garden of Remembrance. This tour was shorter and highly focused, and it was well worth the walk in the rain.

After our tour, we journeyed back over the river to the statue of Molly Malone, across from which is O'Neills. Established in 1713, this pub has served as a meeting place for the Irish parliament and other key figures in Dublin's history over its 300 years. Here, we had our final pint of Guinness in Ireland, and said "Sláinte" to our time on the Emerald Isle. The next morning, we had to leave our hostel by 6 am to catch our ferry in time. As we made our way across the Irish Sea, we reflected on our first two weeks abroad, spent happily among the Irish people. I have loved Ireland since my first visit, and I know it will always be a stop when we are in Europe. The people, the history, the culture--everything calls me back. So though we say goodbye for now, I know we will be seeing the shores of Eire again.