First Trip of the Semester - Cork City & Blarney Castle

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, not too many exciting things to report during the week.

Up above are a few pictures of my Irish breakfast, Cork City, me kissing the Blarney Stone, a few friends in front of the castle, and the castle from afar (my favorite picture I've taken so far).

This past weekend was the first trip of the semester to Cork City and Blarney Castle. On Friday afternoon we departed from downtown Galway for Cork City. Bus Eireann is a bus company that runs all across the country for pretty cheap (round trip bus fare was 20 euro). The bus ride took just about 4 hours from Galway to Cork which was a little annoying. The scenery on the trip however made it all worth it. We have been really lucky so far, following the big freeze, to have had good weather. Friday was no exception with the sun shining bright and not many clouds in the sky. As we passed through places like Gort and Ennis and Limerick on our way to Cork, I saw some incredible Irish landscape. We passed by the typical cascading green fields, through quaint Irish towns, and even some mountains too. When we arrived in Cork, we made our way to the Kinlay House Hostel. There were 7 of us on the trip and we got our own room. It was a big room with plenty of space and our own bathroom. After getting settled, we walked around the center of Cork City. As with many European cities, a river ran right through the town, the River Lee. Cork City looks kind of like a mini Dublin. It is much bigger than Galway. St. Patrick's street is the main shopping center with cobblestone streets and plenty of pubs, restaurants, and shops to check out. There are also many cool little streets with all kinds of markets and places to explore. Our first stop in the city was the Crawford Art Gallery where we saw a bunch of different exhibits, all of which were really interesting. After a couple hours in the art museum, we found a very nice pub for dinner. Most of us had our first authentic shepherd's pie of the semester and it was awesome. After dinner, we hopped from pub to pub and heard a bunch of great Irish musicians and singers. It was a great first night exploring a very interesting Irish city.

Saturday morning we were up pretty early for a breakfast at the hostel, and at noon we made our way onto a free shuttle bus that brought us to Blarney Castle. I know I was there with all of you on our great trip a few years ago (6 years now actually, wow) but on Saturday I finally got to appreciate what I first saw 6 years ago. When we arrived at the castle, a dense fog was hovering over the grounds, but as we walked up to the base of the castle, miraculously, the fog lifted and that beautiful sunny weather took over for the afternoon, just in time. We trekked the narrow stone steps and finally reached the top. All seven of us kissed the famous stone and were all given the "gift of eloquence" as they say here. I'm going to set up a website soon where all my pictures will be since at the moment they're only on Facebook and a few are on here, but there's plenty more. The view from the top of the castle was spectacular and we could see for miles out onto the Irish countryside. After our tricky descent down those narrow steps, we took a stroll through the Rock Close and the gardens surrounding the castle. There were all kinds of landmarks that harbored Irish folklore legends like the Witch's Stone and Druid's Circle. Legend has it, if you stand in the middle of Druid's Circle, no evil spirits can harm you. At the Witch's Stone, we all left coins. With our euro coins were American coins, British coins, and even some Asian currency. People from all over the world love coming to Ireland, and rightfully so. Once we left the castle grounds, we had lunch at a little cafe in Blarney and walked around the Blarney Woolen Mills before heading back to our hostel.

On Saturday night we went to a grocery store and all made our own dinners together at the hostel. After dinner we went to "The Craichouse," a comedy room at the LV Pub. We were entertained by 6 different comedians, all of whom were very funny and had us laughing for a couple hours. There was even an American comedian.

Sunday morning we had one final stop to make before heading back to Galway. We searched far and wide and finally found Zaks Restaurant where most of us had a full Irish breakfast. That meal is just too good. Eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, toast, fried tomato, potato wedges, and black and white pudding. I finished it all...except for the black pudding. I don't know if I'll be able to acquire that taste while I'm here. After breakfast we hopped on the bus and took the never-ending trip back to Galway. It was the same distance as our Friday ride but it seemed much longer.

Overall it was a great first trip. Cork was a nice city, our hostel was clean, and we had a lot of fun exploring a new place. Sadly, when I got home Sunday night I got to watch the Jets lose in the AFC Championship game but oh well, I'll have to get over it and enjoy the rest of my time here in Ireland. It's been 3 weeks so far and I've loved every minute of it.

Hope all is well back home with everyone in the family. Thanks for reading and commenting on my posts.