When I was about five I had a great grandmother that we just called Grandma Kinney. She was my maternal grandmother’s mom and her claim to fame was being born in County Cork, Ireland. Three summers ago we visited Cork and did the usual stuff you do when you hit the port of Cobh. That would be going to Blarney Castle, the Blarney Woolen Mill, the epicurean village of Kinsale and a few minutes in downtown Cork. So this time we didn’t need to do that so we (us and our good friends Bob and Holly) wanted to head into Cork to the English Market. It’s a typical old-style English market and bills itself as the oldest English Market in the world—and it’s not even in England.

We got off the ship, got Steve, Jamie and family off on a tour van to Blarney and grabbed a cab (took a little while) and headed into Cork. Our cab driver dropped us off at the back door to the market, just down an alleyway to the market, past a really cool mural dedicated to everyone in the world…except George Bush (really—see the photos).

We wandered through the market (which was very nice and really cool) but much smaller than we expected. So when we were done we had only been in Cork for about 45 minutes (which was kind of ridiculous for a 25 euro cab ride) so we thought we should find something else to see. On the way in from Cobh (where the ship docked), our cab driver had recommended that we see Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral, the biggest church in Cork. It was pretty impressive (see the photos).

After we had seen the church, we all needed to use a rest room and Kathleen mentioned that in the last block she had seen Fordes pub and thought we could kill two birds with one stone, use their restroom and get a pint. It turned out to be a GREAT idea. Not only did they have really clean restrooms, they also had a super barman who told us the history of the bar (been in the same family for generations) and offered to teach us how to pull the perfect pint of Beamish. For the uninitiated, in the north of the republic of Ireland, Guinness is king but in Southern Ireland, Beamish is king. So now Bob and I both have certificates that we are certified to pull the perfect pint of Beamish (did you know that a Beamish must sit for a 117.5 seconds after the first pull to let the nitrogen bubbles settle?. Well I do.)

After a nice break and a pint, we took a taxi back to the ship and took a break while the others toured all over southern Ireland. The whole journey comes to an end in Dublin which I will show you a little more of tomorrow.

And monkfish

Just another pilot boat

They got olives

The cathedral of Saint Fin Barre

Quite the façade

Holly, Kathleen and Bob check ou the mural

Fordes Pub. We will come back to this later.

Along the River Lee

The sign on the back entrance

The mural on the alley entrance to the British Market in Cork

And figurines on the front of the pulpit

230 years. Can you believe it has been here for 230 years

Ad lots of other fish

Sailing into Cork, I saw another example of alternative energy in Ireland

Angel on the front…

Along with some saints.

On a fountain.

Heron alert.

The cathedral in Cobh

And an excellent altar

A magnificent ceiling

Mosaics in front of the altar

More great stained glass

Another outside shot

More doors

And more great stained glass

Along the River Lee

With a gargoyle or two

These guys were NOT amused

Then let it sit like this for 117.5 seconds

Then fill it all the way up.

The inside was beautiful and very well preserved.

WIth beautiful stained glass

The graveyard behind the church

Two fun people in front of the cathedral

Looking forward inside

Bob pours his Beamish

Here, in Cork district, you have in combination all the dangers which war can inflict. ——Eamon de Valera