Cobh, Killarney and Dublin - Two Days in Ireland

And you thought we were going to kiss the Blarney Stone!! Well, actually, we did, too, but we realized that although we had  all talked about booking a private tour, none of us actually did it. So we found one of the ship's tours that looked interesting. Blarney Castle looked to be a very busy destination, so we chose to avoid it - good thing, since ELEVEN buses left the ship for Blarney Castle - one more thing to add to the list of want-to-sees for the next time we come this way.

We booked an all-day tour that took us out into the southwestern highlands, part way around the Ring of Kerry and into Killarney National Park (you'd think we stole the name from the Irish, except in Georgian Bay it's a provincial park), and finally visiting Muckross House, outside of Killarney, where Queen Victoria once stayed during a visit to Ireland.

Cobh (pronounced 'cove') has as its claim to fame being the last port stop of the ill-fated Titanic. That was when Ireland was 'occupied' by the English and was called Queenstown. After the 26 southern counties of Ireland gained their independence the name was changed back to Cobh. It is quite a small town, the nearest port to Cork, which has a relatively large population of 120,000.

              

              

The County Cork Golf Club

It was quite a beautiful drive along the Ring of Kerry.

 

  We made a short coffee stop in the town of Macroon, where we noted that there are lots of pubs, many looking like they've been there for a while, sort of like this one:

In fact, our tour guide Rohisin (pronounced Rose-een for 'little rose') told us the story about one town that had about 120 inhabitants and 52 pubs!! This would be one of those places where a man could go out drinking in the evening, and by the time his wife finally figured out which pub he might be in he could be back home again claiming he'd never been out drinking!!

Our next photo stop was inside the Killarney National Park, at a spot called the Lady's View. It is so called because Queen Victoria asked her ladies-in-waiting to find a nice place for a picnic during her visit in 1864, and they chose this one because of the beautiful views of the lakes and the valley.

             

          

 

              

We stopped in the town of Killarney for lunch before visiting Muckross House. We had thought we might get traditional Irish Stew, or maybe Bubble and Squeak, or perhaps Corned Beef and Cabbage, but that was not to be, probably because of the overwhelming proportion of Americans on the ship, many of whom might not have liked the cabbage! We did, however have Potatoes with our chicken, and it was all very good, especially dessert, made with a local favourite that has a worldwide following...

             

              

Do you need more than one guess?  It's Bailey's Cheesecake, of course!
Very light and delicious.

Of course we had already seen a couple of golf courses, and then found this shop down the street from the restaurant:

    

          

Our visit to Muckross House included a tour of the inside, which is a representation of upper class Victorian life, both upstairs and downstairs. Of course, you can't take photos inside, so you'll have to make do with an outside shot of the house from the garden, and one of Muckross Lake. The house itself was built in the early 1800s, while Ireland was under English rule. In 1858, Henry Herbert, the owner, was given a 6-year (!) head's-up that Queen Victoria was planning a visit, so he had the place completely fixed up, even to the point of knocking down the main entrance portico and building a brand new one, just because. His wife had her personal rooms redecorated, too, and offered them to the Queen for her use during her stay. Too bad that, not only did she just stay for 2 nights (!!) in August of 1864 but she brought her own bed along as well!

It turns out that Mr. Herbert, who was hoping that his hosting the Queen would get him a knighthood at the very least, actually ended up going bankrupt instead and losing the house altogether. It was eventually bought by an American family whose daughter married an Irishman, and after she died, the house was given to the Nation to become a heritage site. Playing on Queen Victoria's visit helps the trust that runs it generate money for ongoing restoration and upkeep as a museum.

       

We managed to get back to the ship just under the 'All Aboard' wire, and were entertained by a local band as we waited for the lines to be cast off. Even though the ship visits once every 12 days for a full May-September season, it seemed like half the town was somewhere on the waterfront to see us off. Here are a few photos of Cobh as we sailed out to the Irish Sea on our way to Dublin.

             

             

 

          

After another quiet night on calm seas, Friday morning found us yet again in Dublin. Those of our "regular" readers know we were here last September, on Crystal Symphony, our final stop before we ventured out into the hurricanes on that trip! Nothing quite so dramatic this trip, in fact the weather forecast from the Captain Thursday evening was ideal, cloudy with a chance of showers!! We have decided this is the "default" weather forecast. It has been read that way at each port so far and so far each day has been sunny and warm. This morning was no exception. We lay in bed and listened to the clearance announcement from the Officer of the Watch, which included the current weather as being "cloudy and rainy". This was most curious as our cabin was facing east, and even with the heavy drapes closed, we practically needed our sunglasses even though we were still in bed!!! Opening the drapes confirmed not a cloud to be seen!

As we had all been here before, and none of the tours really appealed, we decided to take the shuttle into town and explore on our own. Michel and Judy in previous trips had never made it as far as St. Patrick's Cathedral, so being "Dublin veterans", we said we knew how to get there. And promptly got lost!  Fortunately a kind local stopped, saw us looking at the map upside down, took pity on us, and told us where to go. No, not like that!!! Actually we were not that far off, and ended up coming at it from the opposite direction to the way we had come in September.

Can't remember if we posted this last year.
Homage to Chris deBurgh - was he inspired to
write the song after a visit here?

 

 

 

Here you can see some beautiful needlepoint on the cushions,
as well as the tilework on the floor.

The high altar from the choir loft, with the
Lady's Chapel beyond

 

One of the stained glass panels. This was dedicated
to one of the professors of music at the
University of Dublin.

Statue of St. Patrick

 

The one thing we wanted to repeat from our September trip was lunch at The Temple Bar. While the entire pub district in that part of Dublin is called Temple Bar, one of the biggest pubs is THE Temple Bar. Last year we arrived at 12:30 and ended up sitting at the bar, so this time we decided to get there by 11:30 in order to get a table. Good thing too, because that "cloudy with showers" the Captain had been talking about the last three days? It actually arrived at 11:29, just as we walked in the door! Interestingly, the same barkeep was behind the bar, and the same singer was singing the same Irish songs as when we were here last September. We had a lovely lunch, and proving history does sometimes repeat itself, Monica even had her two Jameson's Irish Whiskeys.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the Captain was still gloating over his now accurate weather forecast when we came out and it was still drizzling. Which then turned to a full-fledged downpour, necessitating taking cover in the doorway of a pub down the street, neither us of being dressed for rain! Since there wasn't a cloud in the sky when we left the ship, we hadn't thought to bring the raingear!

Once the rain finally did let up, we continued on our stroll in the general direction of the shuttle bus stop. A number of well known writers came from or have lived in Dublin over the years, the most famous being Oscar Wilde, and Michel and Judy wanted us to see his statue in a nearby park. According to a young boy who ran past us in the park "it's the only painted statue in Ireland", and it does look rather interesting.

The rain is good for something! This little guy took a
quick bath in a puddle in front of Oscar.

And by this point the sun had made a return appearance, allowing Monica to continue her photographic collection of "the famous doors of Dublin".

 

We are now back onboard the ship and we will be departing for Liverpool at 4:00 PM. We have very long, all day tours planned for the next three days in Liverpool, Belfast and Glasgow, before we finally get our first sea day next Tuesday. While we will do our best, that MAY be the next post on the blog!