Saturday (09/05/2015)
My best friend and her husband decided to travel around Ireland by car and one of the weekends they were going to be in Cork, a city that is only 2h30 from Dublin, so of course we went to meet them there. We bought the train tickets in advance at IrishRail website (90 euros round trip for the two of us), but I can already tell you that the bus is cheaper.
On the day of the trip, we cycled from home to the station Heuston for about 20 minutes and we caught the train that left promptly at 7am. I found the train to be very clean and comfortable, but the best part was seeing the not-too-absurd prices at the bar (especially the beers!) and our names above the seats we reserved. I felt important 🙂 The idea was to stay awake to see the whole route and be able to take cool photos, but after seeing so much green scenery – after all, it is the Emerald Isle – , sleep was inevitable.
We walked about 5 minutes from the train station to our hostel, Brú Bar Hostel, and we passed beautiful buildings, like the St Patrick's Church and the Trinity Presbyterian Church.
Brú Bar Hostel
Our hostel was highly rated in all aspects. websites It is located in a great location, between the center of Cork and the train station. As the name suggests, it is a hostel and a bar at the same time, so if you want peace and quiet, this is not the place for you. The private rooms were full, so we got a room with 4 beds for 40 euros for the two of us. I didn't like climbing the 3 flights of stairs to get to our room, but I was thankful that I didn't hear any noise from the party in the bar during the night.
The city of Cork
Cork has only 120,000 inhabitants and it can be said to be built on water. Its name in Irish, Corcaigh, means “swamp” and it was from an island between two branches of the River Lee that it began to be built. The city is practically all flat and the attractions are relatively close to each other, so you can explore it by bike or even on foot. Full of narrow streets, canals and houses with Georgian architecture, it is extremely pleasant and welcoming, even with the constant rainy weather that we had over the weekend. We were impressed by the amount of pubs and street artists, and although we had difficulty choosing restaurants, we found all the dishes we ate delicious. The city’s reputation for good cuisine can’t be a coincidence, right?
We visited most of the attractions in one afternoon, using the map below that we got from the hostel as a basis:
Now some photos of our tour of the city, separated by region/tourist attraction:
Cork City Centre
English Market
The town’s main attraction is a market dating back to 1610 that sells a variety of delicious things ready to eat or take home. Queen Elizabeth visited the market recently and the photo of her at the market is practically a tourist attraction.
Bishop Lucey Park
St. Fin Barre's Cathedral
This neo-Gothic cathedral completed in 1870 is impressive, just look:
Elizabeth Fort
University College Cork
Fitzgerald's Park
Red Abbey
Holy Trinity Church
Cork Opera House
There are other attractions in the city too, such as the St Anne's Shandon, the Cork Butter Museum and the Cork City Gaol, but they had to stay for another visit. We spent most of our time in the city hanging out with our friends, drinking quality beers and eating delicious food.
Restaurants and Bars
Look at the places we went:
- Awesome pub on the corner of Caroline Street and the street that gives the bar its name
2. Elbow Lane Restaurant with amazing Ribs!
Sunday (10/05/2015)
THE JAMESON EXPERIENCE
We left the hostel with them to visit the old factory. Jameson, which is in the town of Midleton, a 20-minute drive from Cork. We paid 15 euros for the tour THE JAMESON EXPERIENCE of almost 1 hour, which has a lot of explanation about the ingredients and processes. At the end of the tour, we had a comparative tasting of 3 famous whiskeys (Jack Daniels, Black Label and Jameson, of course) and I confess that I liked the Irish one the most…lol. As soon as the tour It was over, we were even entitled to a shot of Jameson, and I asked for it mixed with ginger and lemon. Delicious…it went down really well!
Farewell restaurant
We returned to Cork and they continued their journey to Kilkenny. In Cork, we walked around the city center a little more and stopped for lunch at the restaurant Market Lane, which is next to the restaurant from the previous day, the Elbow Lane. Both have a 4.5 rating on TripAdvisor and the first has won several awards. We ordered a menu that included starter + main course + dessert for 23 euros.
It was worth every penny! Here's a tip 🙂
We walked a little more and then stopped at the bar/restaurant Gallagher's, which is located on the street of our hostel and is very cozy. We took advantage of the rain and spent some time there, drinking some good beers… great way to pass the time, right? 🙂 We returned to our little house in Dublin without any problems.
