Blogs from Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, Europe

Headed out this morning on a brilliant walking tour of historic Kinsale by local Barry Moloney. Amusing, delightful, and highly informative. Points of interest included the Lusitania graveyard in this quaint historic town. After the tour, took a long walk around Compass Hill, with a breathtaking view of the harbor and James Fort and Charles Fort. Walked back around the harbor to our place for refreshment before heading out tonight for dinner and some music Great seafood for dinner at Jim Edwards — oven roasted salmon and pan seared hake — followed by a couple of stops at pubs for some traditional music sessions.... read more

Paddywagon Tours drove us through Cork enroute from Blarney to Kinsale. We did see a fair amount of the city from the motorcoach, though we did not have the opportunity to walk it. The River Lee flows though Cork and several attractive bridges cross the river. Our guide was proud that Cork has more tall buildings than Dublin! Cork is is also famous as the home of Murphy's Brewery and its Murphy's Stout (now owned by Heineken Ireland). South of Cork city is Kinsale, a picturesque harbour town at the mouth of the River Brandon. Our first stop was at Charles Fort for a scenic overlook of the harbour. Charles Fort was established in 1682 to defend Kinsale harbour. The companion James Fort (1607) can be seen on a promontory across the harbour. Charles Fort remained ... read more

Geo: 51.7064, -8.5233Today we took a long walk (over two miles one way) all the way to Charles Fort on the opposite side of the harbor. Most of the way was the Scilly Walk which wound through trees and seaside homes and offered lovely views of the water. When we reached the end of the footpath, we had another half mile or so to go on the high road which was all uphill to get to Summercove and the fort. At the fort, we purchased Heritage Cards that can be used at several of the sites we plan to visit this trip. Twenty euros each for seniors, and they are good for a year at about fifty places that charge anywhere from one to thirteen euros for admission. We plan to go to enough of them ... read more

Geo: 51.7064, -8.5233The overnight flight was not the best we've had, but not terrible. There was a fair amount of low-level turbulence, and the pilot kept the seat belt sign on for long stretches of time including over half of the nine-hour flight. We had an empty seat between us on the flight. A woman did sit there for a few minutes during boarding, but she saw two empty seats together against the window and moved over there. It is always nice to be able to spread out a little. Yesterday, Bill texted the Service Manager and at least one of the other flight attendants on our flight to ask them to look out for us and take care of us. Near the end of the flight, Kaolipalani(sp?) stopped by to welcome us and offered us ... read more

Day 5 We started our day with a killer breakfast and then off to the Jameson distillery for our tour. Very interesting to see all the old buildings and see how they make Irish whiskey. And, we got do do some "sampling" (at 11am). Then we were off to the town of Cobh ( pronounced "cob"). This is where a lot of emigrants left for other countries and also the last port of call for the Titanic. We also stopped by the St. Coleman's cathedral. Next we went to the city of Cork (in County Cork (the locals pronounce it Caaahhhk), and walked around a bit and went to the Old English market. There we found cheese,fish,meats,etc. we bought some local cheese, an Irish cheddar and a blue, very tasty, and a sausage sandwich for lunch. ... read more