Cork - how we wish we could do that to the rain!

Ho hum, more rain!
Ok Ireland - we are officially over it! You can stop now. Really!!
Like rain, rain go away, come back when we have left Ireland!

We had made plans to do the Cork City (red bus) Tour this morning but it is raining that heavily that we would have had to sit downstairs on the bus and even then could not have taken photos because of the wet view through the windows and/or the steaming up of the windows. The weather forecast is really grim with wet weather planned all day. So we delay our departure - at least it gives me a chance to complete the blog from yesterday, to catch up with Gen and reply to emails from Bill and Greta planning for our visit early next week.

There is a bit of a break in the weather so we decide to head into town and try our luck. Ha Ha. The place is absolutely crawling with people - the big department store here - Debenhams has a really big sale on and so I think people are using the wet weather to go and spend some money. Cork, like many old cities, has a central area that is a maze of one-way streets, most of them very narrow, a pedestrianised inner area and an absolute dearth of parking. Guess the parking fairy is holed up in bed nice and warm out of the 8°C. When we get to the multi-storey in a line behind a whole heap of other cars, the sign says car park full. Hang on, it just changed! Uh oh, and has changed back. Then I realise that as cars leave, it changes. So we crawl up the ramp. When I get to the top and push the button for the ticket - nothing happens. Then I realise that I can't even get a ticket until another car leaves through the boom gates. Wow - it really is full!!!

Doesn't take too long to get a ticket to get in, but finding that elusive spot ain't easy. On our second round we spot a couple just leaving and so wait for their space. I tell you, that parking fairy had better not abandon me for too long - after all I am foregoing ever winning lotto for the trade-off of always finding a parking space. So, car parked we head back down town - only to realise that the bus has gone and there will not be another one for about 90 minutes. That's not all bad though as we go in search of something to eat.

Just down from the car park is the Cork English Market. An arcade of individual traders, this is bustling with sounds and smells. There are more butchers and chicken sellers than I have ever seen in any other marketplace and we are amazed at some of the prices. No wonder there are so many people here. And the range of vegetables is amazing - there is one stall selling olives and there would have easily been 2 dozen different varieties. We stop to buy some matches (pastry cakes) at a bakery stall and the lady serving us is very chatty -
"are we here on holidays?
Shame about the weather.
We have not had much of a summer for the last 3 years.
Where are you from?
Oh gosh, and you left that warm weather!"
Gosh, she is better than - well, me!

By now we are starving - it is after 1:30 pm and we have not had anything to eat yet today. I spy the sign for the FarmGate Restaurant and we head upstairs. Now, remember all those cars waiting for parking? Well I think all their occupants are here for lunch. The maitre'd tells us that there will be a 5 - 10 minute wait and hands us a menu to have a look at. Mmmm, everything sounds so yummy, so we decided to wait. Well, 20 minutes later we are shown to a table and a pitcher of water and basket of home baked bread out in front of us as we await our meals. We are hungry and the food smells wonderful so we order:
Entree:
half a dozen fresh oysters (Michael) - check out the size of them, that is a full size dinner fork
Mains:
Braised Lamb Shank (Michael)
Smoked Bacon and Ardrahan Cheese Sausages served with Onion and Champ (Maria)
Desserts:
Fruit crumble (only when there was no apple tart left) with cream (Michael)
Lemon tart with cream (Maria) - this was suck in your lips and squint your eyes deliciously tart - oh how I enjoyed it - well most of it. Was too full to finish it so Michael did!
We finished with a coffee and a lemon tea after 4 pm!!! Gosh, where did the afternoon go?

So, once out we realise that there is now only one bus left for the day and it only does a part route. We will get up earlier tomorrow and do it then! Angels and Demons was released this week so we figure we will go see it. Get over to the cinema our hotel receptionist recommended - same story with parking. I am about to take the ticket in another multi-storey car park a few blocks from the cinema when I see the sign that the car park closes at 6:30 pm. Foiled again!

We know there is another cinema close to where we are staying so we go to check it out. Angels and Demons is not on until 8:30 pm. Fairly close by is Blackrock Castle Observatory so we figure we will kill a little time by taking a look. It has stopped raining for the time. We go searching for it, unsuccessfully, but manage to find another (new) cinema. Parking fairy has woken up and we find a spot right outside the entrance!
Angels and Demons is not on until late there either but the new Star Trek movie starts in 10 minutes - so ice cream in hand off we go. Lovely leather seats - nice and big. There are quite a few people in the theatre - no doubt they want to escape the weather as well. Won't ruin it for all our Trekkie mates, but suffice to say we think that the producers have done very well with both the plot and the actors. Great movie - well worth seeing.

So, movie done it is now 8 pm (but feels like 4pm). We can actually see some clear sky - not quite sunny, but not far off. So I head in the opposite direction and just when we think that we will not find the castle (despite following two lonely signs), we turn a bend and there she is right in front of us. Of course the complex is closed for the day, but at least we can see the outside. This is a 16th century castle that now houses the Cork observatory. Armed with camera in hand, Michael gets shots from nearly all directions around.

So we are now back at the Maryborough Hotel. The place is jumping tonight - quite literally. As well as the Criminal Investigators conference that is on here at the moment, there are 13 first communion celebration parties happening. Did I say jumping? Yeah, well put together a whole heap of young kids and party drinks and food and it surely is.

Round the Ring to Cork

Hurrah - we wake to find that the rain has stopped!! It was not the most comfortable of nights for either of us and I am thinking that single beds do not aid people who have been sleeping together for 28 years at all. But breakfast was great. We started with OJ and muesli (Alpen brand - hope we can get it at home - it is delicious) followed by scrambled eggs for Michael and poached for me. Not too heavy and both cooked very nicely.

We are on the road just after 9:30 am heading in clear weather towards rather ominous looking clouds. I now know why it is so green in Emerald. For 10 minutes every hour it rains, and then the sun comes out, so the grass and shrubs and bushes and trees are constantly being fed and growing! We stop to do the daily top up with fuel as you can never be certain of where you can find fuel on the road. Today we pay €1.12 per litre and before you start to make comment, this actually translates to $2.04 per litre back home. So you can quit your whinging right about now!

And today I re-introduce the Oh Wow days. As we travel south from Tralee into the Ring of Kerry via Killorglin where we see the proud statue of King Puck at the entrance to town. Like many small towns in the tourist areas, they can be very congested and today is certainly no exception to that. In response, Killorglin it seems wants a bypass so the banners around town compete with the political billboards! Although it would be hard to beat one of the campaign banners of a local candidate - trouble is, can you take him seriously???

The Catholic Cathedral at Cahersiveen is currently undergoing a full restoration at an estimated cost of €5 million with only €1 million raised to date. Seems an awful lot to be spending on such a project - although we did not stop to have a look.

Valentia Island is right at the south west of Ireland - part of the Iveragh Peninsula and bordered on the west by Dingle Bay. It is reached by ferry from the coastal collection of buildings (that could never be called a village or even hamlet) of Reenard Point to the port of Knightstown on the island.

The trip over on the ferry is short - just 300 m across the bay, then a turn through the harbour breakwalls before docking. The information on the net says that the ferry operates every 15 minutes, but we watched as it just went across and back continuously, carrying people who live on the island as well as tourists. It was interesting - we arrived at the depature point first in a line of cars and I pulled up a little way back to allow for traffic to come off. Another car arrived after about 5 others and just drove passed us all right to the edge of the ramp - obviously a local. He then proceeded to drive on to the ferry almost before the last car was off! Obviously a local!! Our trip took only 4 or 5 minutes - hardly enough time to pay the charge! The ticket seller gave us a free map of the island thankfully. We could see there was a small network of roads from our map, but this one also gave us what there was to see - something we did not have.

And OH WOW This is some of the most stunning scenery we have seen anywhere on our travels to date. It is everything that you think of Ireland and then some - with the seaside thrown in! And it has quite a history from prehistoric animals to the first Atlantic telegraph line crossing to Irelands largest slate mine complete with a Marian grotto.

Then there is the Tetrapod Trail - fossilised tracks from the first known vertebrate to walk on land - 385 million yeas ago. Before this all known vertebrates were fish. They walked, dragging their tails behind them, across the muddy flat that over time was compressed to become shale and millions of years later eroded to expose the trail again. These were only discovered in 1992. It makes any of the history we have seen to date kind of seem a bit lame for a moment or two!

And then there was the Altazamuth standing stone that we came upon quite by chance - although it graces the front of the free fold-out map, it is not very clearly marked. The island continues to offer up small and not-so-small surprises. We spent a couple of hours wandering across the island with me constantly oh wowing, OMG, oh wow, OMG, oh wow! Can you hear it?!!!

We had debated whether we would just skip past Valentia and continue across the mainland coast road. But every time we just go with a spur-of-the-moment decision we have been thrilled with what we find. Eventually, we had to push on. Instead of retracing our steps and re-crossing on the ferry we drove down to the opposite end of Valentia Island (sounds like it should be in Italy don't you think) and crossed the bridge to Portmagee. By this time we are starting to think that we will not make it to Killarney and have to head straight for Cork.

Back on the mainland, we continue to follow the coast on the N70, getting more and more glimpses of the outstanding beauty of the Inveragh Peninsula and the Skellig Islands - those sharp conical rocks thrust proudly out of the boiling sea. We drive a few kms, stop, take more photos, drive a few more kms, stop, etc etc etc. But we are not alone - we play hopscotch time and time again with half a dozen other cars doing exactly the same.

By the time we get to Waterville further around Ballinskelligs Bay at 1:30 pm, we desperately need a toilet stop and some food. This little seaside town is base for a lot of walkers, holiday makers and was a popular choice for holidays by Chalie Chaplin. We find a parking stop right outside the Lobster Bar and Restaurant. Walking in, there are plenty of diners and most of them tucking heartily into fish and chips. So when in Rome ... I ordered the Fish and Chips. Michael opted for the Prawn, Crab and fish cakes and spends most of the time searching for the fish - they are chockers with prawn and fresh crab meat. And my cod -the batter was so light and crisp and the fish so fresh that it tasted of sea water and hardly even had a fish taste!!! It was sublimly good, as was the service fromt he friendly waitress and the coffee we finished with. A quick stop to get a pic with Charlie and a final decision to give Killarney a miss and head straight to Cork.

We re-connect with the main highway at the town of Kenmare where there is supposedly a stone circle. But we do not see it as we drive through - so I guess it is just out of town in the other diredction. Bu a little further on we do see a sign pointing to the The Staigue Stone Hillfort 4kms off the road near Castlecove. And can't resist a quick look! This is all that remains of what would have been an enclosed settlement of a local chieftan built in the early centuries AD before christianity arrived in Ireland. It is the largest hillfort in Ireland and built without mortar, is a testament to the skills of the earliest settlers. Look had, we get back onto the road and given that it is now 4 pm, vow not to stop again, puching on passed great views and through quaint little towns!

And so that brings us to tonight in Cork where we are writing the blog from the Maryborough Hotel and Spa! Yep, you read right! A link with home - but in name only. This is luxurious and oppulent but in a quiet understated kind of way. Set on a hill above Cork and in the most amazing gardens. They have given us a Spa suite - complete with bath IN the room (shower and toilet in the ensuite), leather sofa, table and chairs AND with 20 LED lights set into the feature wall, overlooking a grassed roof between us and the gym! So there is really very little to compare with here and home!!! (Hmm although I must admit, the lights in the wall here are the same ones we have in our 'runway' ceiling to the bathroom! Had forgotten that until now!)

As we had had a latish lunch are are not really hungry, tonight we decide to just eat from the Light Bites menu in the bar. Our waitress (Kristina from Slovakia) settles us in to armchairs overlooking the beautiful gardens with mature trees and flowering azaleas and rhododendrons and busy little black birds pigging out on fat worms they pull from the lawn. Then supervisor Siva brings along a Specials Menu for us to have a look at. He hails from Penang in Malaysia and if there ever was someone suited to his career, he is it. He personally introduces himself to everyone who comes in, and then, remembering eveyone's name, he addresses them personally every time he speaks with them. The perfect employee in hospitality - you feel valued from the word go - good on you Siva - you are a shining light!

Oh, and that menu - hmm. SO much for a toasted sandwich! We choose:
Mains:
Breast of Chicken wrapped in Parma Ham (Michael)
Loin of Pork with sage stuffing and a mustard dressing (Maria)
Both are served with Potato Au Gratin, creamed pumpkin and fresh sugar snap peas
Dessert: Michael only !
Assiette of tropical flavours - pineapple mousse, passionfruit cheescake and caramelised bananas in a crisp case - I had a taste of each and it was delicious. I finished with a Cointreau over ice while Michael had a coffee.

Ah yes, Maryborough - now that is something to remember!! Ha ha ha!!!