Shandon Tower & Bells

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It was such a beautiful day in Cork so Corey and I thought we should wander Cork a little bit more. We made our way past the Heineken Brewery in Cork and up to Shandon, Which was just across the River Lee. We walked down the main street and up small alleys following the Shandon Tower in the distance, until we reached the bottom of Shandon Tower. We payed our 2 Euro to the lady at the front door, who also gave us ear muffs for when we were up beside the bells. We climbed about halfway up when we reached the floor, where we could actually ring the bells of Shandon Tower. It was so much fun, pulling the numbered chords to create some amazing bell sounds. We followed directions in a book to play the actual Bells of Shandon song, along with Walting Matilda (our Australian song), and even Mary had a Little Lamb! We continued to climb up towards the bells when we reached another floor which was the mechanics of the clock outside on the Shandon Tower. We climbed even further up the top when we reached the bells. They were very old a dirty, covered in bird poop but it was pretty rad as we had never been this close to huge bells before. We continued to climb to the top of Shandon Tower to the viewing balcony where we could get excellent views of Cork city. It was such an amazing sight to see all the places we had visited from the Pubs to the Shopping Mall and even towards our apartment. After many photographs we decided to climb down the 200 or so steps back to the bottom.

After we left Shandon Tower we walked past the famous Butter Museum and Butter Exchange. These buildings had amazing engravings on it of old farming equipment and people. We decided to call it a day and head on back to our apartment to put our feet up and have a few pints...a perfect way to spend a lovely afternoon in Cork.

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