Becki and Nanci’s European Adventure

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Today was a typical start to the day.....breakfast at the hotel then on and gone by 8:30. We were headed to Blarney Castle as we got flooded out yesterday. We were trying to fit 2 days of sightseeing and activities into 1 day. If we were among the first at Blarney Castle, then we would beat the lines and be on and gone quickly. We were the first bus to pull in, so that was perfect. There was no line ahead of us.

The hardest part of Blarney Castle is climbing to the top if you want to kiss the Blarney Stone. This was a big bucket list item for Nanci. I was worried about her foot holding out (she had 2 surgeries) as she climbed the 127 narrow, winding stairs to the top. She was a real trooper! She made it!!! Now to kiss the Blarney Stone is no easy task. You have to lay down on your back, hold on to a bar on each side of you, and scoot back while sticking your head down a hole to reach the stone. You feel like you are going to fall!! BUT, it can be done!! There are helpers there to hold on to you, but you still feel like you’re out of control. It is not the best picture pose!! AND they have a camera set up to catch you at your worst. PLUS we look at the pictures and buy them anyway!!!

One thing we noticed was how bad the flooding was the day before. I took several pictures of the water line as we moved around the grounds. Even two if the bridges were covered over in flood water.

We left Blarney Castle and headed to Cobh (pronounced Cove) Heritage Center. This is similar to New York City’s Ellis Island but instead of arriving, these people were leaving. More than 2.5 million left Ireland through Cobh in the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s. Because this was at Cork City, Nanci thought her Irish family probably left through Cobh.

Cobh also had ties to The Titanic. That ship pulled in to Queenstown (also one of the names given Cobh), where they picked up 123 passengers and where 7 disembarked. Can you imagine if you were among the 7 that got off that ship!!!

There’s a statue of Annie Moore and her two brothers located just outside the Cobh Heritage Center. It’s to commemorate the first Irish immigrant to travel to America. There’s a similar statue at Ellis Island as she was the first immigrant to be processed there in 1892. What a hardship people had to endure to save their families!

Next up we were going to Cork. We could spend the rest of the day there or go with the group to Kinsale, a small, beautiful seaside town on the coast of Ireland. Nanci knew her an Irish ancestors immigrated from Cork, so we opted to stay there and get a little more familiar with Cork.

We had a great time walking around the town, shopping, visiting the parks, and just enjoying the town of Cork. It’s a big city, the third largest of Ireland. There were tons of stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks.

We had heard about The English Market so we decided to visit. It’s an organic, locally sourced food market that has been going strong since 1789. It’s a covered market that is important to the food scene in Cork. It had everything!! Nanci and I decided we were tired of eating out so we’d buy something to take back to our room for dinner. We bought a Greek salad made from olives, feta cheese, peppers, and a Greek dressing. We then bought some salami from another stall and sandwich rolls from another!

Across from The English Market we walked in a pretty park and we’re taking pictures. I noticed a big flock of pigeons, but really didn’t pay attention. I continued to walk and take pictures when, all of a sudden, there was this big noise, like a flutter, but loud like a plane taking off. I ducked and could feel the air from their wings. All those pigeons got spooked and took off at the same time! Look at the picture with pigeons on a roof and you’ll see just how many there were!!! It was creepy!

Around the corner we saw a bakery. Now bakeries always catch my eye. I love to bake and am always interested in new ideas. I have learned that sometimes what looks the best doesn’t taste the best. One thing that caught my eye, besides the baked goods, was the advertisement of a pumpkin spice latte. One thing I miss at home is pumpkin spice season. There’s really not that many pumpkin spice products here. So we decided to pop in, get a drink and a pastry and take a break. My pumpkin spice latte was heavenly! Nanci got a latte (not pumpkin) and an apple pie turnover. Oh my that turnover was out of this world. The young girl running the place was just delightful. The name of the place….The Grumpy Baker!!!

Once we left the bakery, we headed down Patrick Street to meet one of our tour friends as we were going to share a cab ride back to the hotel in Macroom. One thing this tour company did was reimburse you for your taxi if you didn’t go on a planned excursion….good thing since this was sn expensive cab ride.

Back at the hotel we fixed our dinner of salami and roll, Greek salad, and dessert from The Grumpy Baker. It was a very nice change, plus it gave us some extra time off to rest, relax, catch up on the blog, or repack our luggage.

We knocked another item off Nanci’s bucket list….Cork, the city of her ancestors!!

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