Blogs from County Cork, Ireland, Europe - page 10

For those of you receiving email updates about my blog from subscribing when I was in Papua New Guinea, I'm now in Ireland! I figured I would keep the blogging going. My brother, David, is doing a master's program in Edinburgh, Scotland, and so I figured I would go spend a week in Ireland before heading over to Edinburgh for Christmas. If you aren't interested in non-PNG blogs, then I recommend unsubscribing from the email list. First impression of Ireland: holy green. Ireland certanly lives up to is reputation of being green. I noticed the grass as we were landing in the plane. Everything is growing. Trees and even steel bridges and sidewalks have all manner of green lichens and mosses growing bountifully. In the moss on the trees ferns can sometimes be found sproutng. After ... read more

The weather looked promising when we woke after a good night’s sleep and we hope that it continues for the day as our plan is to drive down to the coast south of Cork and explore the coastline. The roundabouts in Ireland are even more confusing than those in England where you have to get into the right lane for exiting the roundabout or you will get tooted at if you get it wrong and obviously put yourself at risk of getting rammed! And the one at the hotel that we had to negotiate to get on our way was a doosy as it went under a main highway and had 4 sets of traffic lights in it to add to the need for concentration. It took us two attempts to get in the right lane ... read more

We stayed in Cork for two nights as we mentioned in our previous post and have included the photos of some of the sites in the Cork and Cobh area. The Heritage Museum in Cobh below Cork is a not to be missed attraction. Everything you need to know about the sinking of the Titanic and Lusitania are here at this museum. Incredible audio and visuals. We then left Cork on Sunday morning and enjoyed the easy drive out of town without any traffic. New to us! We drove the very rural highways along the southern coast of Ireland working our way over to the major attractions of the Mizen Head Peninsula, Beara Peninsula, Ring of Kerry and Dingle Peninsula. The drive down through the Mizen Head Peninsula was quite dramatic with stunning views of the ... read more

Well the typical Irish weather has caught up to us big time. It is cold, windy, and boy is it raining. This is definitely not a passing shower. We are off to county Clare to see the Cliffs of Mohr. These are the cliffs of insanity in "The Princess Bride". The weather is insanity too. The wind is whipping and the rain feels like little knives. As we approached the cliffs, we entered the visitor's center. I see many pictures of puffins. Puffins must come to this location! I begin to get excited, and cry. The thought that puffins might be nearby is overwhelming. Background: I absolutely love puffins. They are the cutest Arctic birds. Alas, as we make our way to the cliffs; I start to come down to the realization that no bird is ... 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