Ireland: Part 2 Cork, Blarney, & Kinsale

Bonnie and Me on the train to Cork

Cork

Alex and Bonnie at the Cork bus station

Beautiful flowers at Blarney Castle

Blarney Castle

Poison Garden

Blarney House

Kissing the Blarney Stone!

Sausages in Cork

Streets of Cork

Middle of Nowhere trying to find our B&B in Kinsale

Kinsale

Our B&B in Kinsale

Kinsale Harbor

Charles Fort in Kinsale

 Cork

When we arrived in Cork, we walked to the bus station to investigate our options since we only had a tentative plan.  We decided to go to Blarney (about 20 minutes away) where the Blarney Castle was even though it was raining. As soon as we got there the rain went away and it was absolutely beautiful outside! The grounds were beautiful with lots of greenery and flowers.  The Blarney Castle itself was not very elaborate, but we all kissed the Blarney Stone which is supposed to bring us good luck, so definitely worth it!  We walked around the grounds where there was also a poison garden and lots of cows and horses... all very picturesque Ireland! After the Blarney Castle, we went back to Cork to find some lunch.  We walked through the city a little bit before finding some delicious sausages and potatoes.  We walked around some more in the shopping area and then we caught a bus to Kinsale, a local fishing village.  There were a thousand teenagers on the bus being obnoxious, but it was kind of funny to watch.  We really had no idea where we were going because the address did not exist on Google maps, but thanks to a woman on the bus, she told us to get off at this intersection and to walk up the street and hope that we find our B&B.  We laughed and laughed when we looked around and found us in the middle of nowhere with nothing but fields of green everywhere.  We started to follow the road, which had no shoulder, with our suitcases, and after a few brushes of death within a few minutes by cars, a good Samaritan stopped and offered to give us a ride down the street.  We was a very nice local that lived down the street and didn't want to see us get run over, haha.  People in Ireland are so nice!  Upon arrival to Sunset B&B, an old woman walked out to greet us and it was everything we could have hoped for!  We were hoping for a B&B run by a little Irish grandma in the middle of fields of green, and that is exactly what we got! We had a big room with a stunning view.  It was about a 20 min walk outside of Kinsale, but totally worth it!  We could hardly understand the woman's accent, but she was so sweet!  Her husband drove us into town where we walked around some.  All the buildings were painted different colors and it was right along the bay opening to the Atlantic Ocean.  It was such a lovely town.  We ate at a place called Jim Edward's Pub and I ate hake since Kinsale is known for seafood and had some wine.  We had some nice hot showers that night and a very comfortable bed.  The next day we woke up to a glorious home cooked Irish breakfast.  It was funny because the old lady kept talking to Bonnie and she kept egging it on, but nobody could understand her, but the conversation kept going.  We took the lovely scenic walk in to town to walk around some more and there was a market going on and I also went in to a knit store run by the nicest couple and bought a kind of sweater/shawl thing since Ireland is famous for its knitted things.  We then went to Charles Fort which was right on the Atlantic and had views out and into the bay.  We ate at a pub called the Bulman.  I had apple cider and lobster! How fancy!  After we headed back to Cork, we checked in to the Belvedere B&B, which was actually a ways out of town and was more like a hotel.  We took a taxi back into town after dropping off our bags with the weird Polish girl that worked at our B&B.  In town, we walked around more kind of outside the center and then ended at a restaurant called Harvey's where I had tomato sauce gnocchi which was delicious!  That night we had a relaxing evening at the B&B and then the next morning had a good breakfast although the lady serving the breakfast was rude. Then we headed out on our merry way to Galway!