Dublin to Cork—Friday

April 12th

Today we took the bus to Heuston Station, and after a quick chat with the information person, I discovered we could purchase a senior rail pass pass that allowed us to take five trips over 15 days, saving us about $100. Good news and let's hear it for Irish Rail.

We had a lovely 2.5 hour train ride to Cork, visiting with two locals who gave us the name of a traditional pub where good conversation is the pursuit. No phones, no TV allowed and shared tables make conversation a priority.

At Cork, we followed the directions I downloaded from Google Maps to the Gabriel House, our home for the next five nights. We took a walk to get oriented, had lunch at Gallagher's Pub, found the meeting place for our Blarney Castle, Fort Charles, Kinsale, and Cobh (pronounced cove) tour Saturday, and called it a day.

Cork, as a city, dates back to 922 and more recently is known as the foodie capital of Ireland, and in 2005, was recognized for one year by the EU as a cultural capital, generating economic benefits that revitalized the city. The people here are proud of their rebel reputation and are fiercely independent. Cork's port is important and the city has been revitalized since the economic downturn in the 1980's when Ford Motor and Dunlop closed their plants and ship building declined. By the 2000's heavy industry was replaced by information technology, pharmaceuticals, brewing, distilling, food processing and tourism.

The Gabriel House was built in 1926 and sits on 

a hill overlooking the city. It's a classic. The rooms

have 12 foot ceilings and are good-sized.

At Gallagher's, as in Rory, we shared
a delicious grilled ham & cheese and 
a cup of minestrone soup.

Cork locals drink Beamish instead
of Guinness. I got several nods of
approval for going with the local.

 

MacCurtain Street, Cork's main
road through town.

The River Lee.

The "like" at the end of a sentence is Corkian version
of the Canadian "eh".

On the second floor the Hyberion Bar is the
place to meet and chat with locals. We
discovered Saturday that our friends from
the train were right about this pub.

Just walking the streets of central Cork.

Summer Hill Road leads up to our place.

The view from our room takes in the train station
and the River Lee. We watched all kinds of ships
move up the river to Cork City harbor.