Day 4 Friday 6/8/12 Cork City

We had breakfast at the Pembroke and then drove in the pouring rain and wind to the Rock of Cashel, it was one of the few old castles Matthew really wanted to see.  Unfortunately, as you can see in the pictures, the wind and rain was worse up on the hill that the castle was on.  Again, we did our best to realize this was a once in a lifetime trip and made the best of it:)

Our walk around the castle was short and then we began our drive to Cork City, over an hour away.  By the time we arrived, the sun had come out and we were excited to be outside the car and move around.  We used a walking tour from our Travel Ireland book to really get a feel for the city.  Cork was right on the River Lee and I felt was centered around lots of shopping.  It's one of the bigger cities in Ireland.  We walked through the English Market, the smells of which I couldn't stand (fresh fish), walked along the River Lee, went through Crawford Art Gallery and spent a lot of time at St. Fin Barre's Cathedral.

 View of part of Cork City, in the distance you can see the Cathedral

 St. Fin Barre's Cathedral

We stayed at the Hotel Maldron that was luckily on the opposite side of the busy part of town.  To get there from the car park (parking garage) we had to walk uphill most of the way and through small alleys.  After getting settled, I was anxious to get to some water.  We used the map and looked for town names on the water that were familiar to Matthew.  On to Kinsale we went.  The drive to Kinsale was a much needed hour of laughter.  Matthew drove through (was confused by) dozens of roundabouts, trees and bushes were scraping us on both sides of the car because the roads were so skinny, and cars were driving past us at 100 kph!  As Matthew gripped the wheel and looked very distressed, the only thing I could do was giggle:)

When we arrived in Kinsale, I remember seeing dozens of sailboats and our first big body of water since we'd been in Ireland.  I was looking at the Celtic Sea!  We parked and walked on the road along the coast.  I had to use our first bathroom that you had to pay for!  It kind of looked like a kaibo on the outside, but very different on the inside.  What an experience:)  Kinsale is a small fishing town with very narrow streets and lots of little shops.  We got there after 5 so we couldn't shop, but the weather was perfect so we were happy to just walk around.  We had delicious fish & chips (fries) at Dino's Fish & Chips.

~Lucky to be enjoying the sunshine in Ireland~