Day 5: Castles, Cork...and wine corks
We slept hard - again. Patrick's Hill will take it out of you, I'll say that much. After walking up and down the hills of Cork throughout our first day in the city, we learned that food and beer guilt shouldn't even be a thought in our minds. So when we woke up on day 5 we tossed back some quick breakfast and coffee at The Lodge with plans to tackle Blarney Castle and The Blarney Stone - followed by a big lunch in the city.
Pro Tip: You can book your tickets online for Blarney Castle/Stone and it saves you approximately 2 euro and zero minutes. You also have to be able to print out the ticket, which is a challenge if you're staying in accommodations that don't have a printer. Lucky for us, our AirBnB host lived nearby the location we were renting from him and he printed the tickets for us. Score 1 for Irish hospitality.
Upon arriving at Blarney Castle we parked and waited in the same line as everyone else, presented our tickets and entered the gate. While slightly commercialized, the experience was still amazing. The grounds are beautifully kept, the castle is amazing, and being able to kiss the Blarney Stone was great. Also, for all the naysayers, they washed the stone with disinfectant after each person kissed it, so there. We also took some pictures of examples of blarney versus baloney - just in case any of you need a reference (see below).
Having kissed the stone and toured the grounds, we decided to give into our stomach and head back into Cork to park the car and get a solid lunch (back down Patrick's Hill). We ended up at a bar and coffee shop called The Woodford, which does make great cup of coffee by the way (americano...no brewed coffee here unless you find a Starbucks, and who is looking for that when in Ireland...really).
Lunch - CHECK!
Off to the Crawford Art Gallery to indulge Brendan and get him his art fix! We saw several great exhibits and both found a particular artist we really enjoyed - Harry Clarke. He produced amazing stained glass (Brendan's favorite) and also very interesting illustrations (my personal favorite).
Coincidently there is an exhibit in Dingle (but that's another post).
Art fix having been fixed, we marched back up the hill to get a quick nap in before changing to head to dinner. Our last dinner in Cork had to be one of my favorites - Cafe Paradiso near University College of Cork on Washington Street produced one of the best vegetarian meals I've ever had. Three courses, all different and delicious - including the wine. The owner and chef also published several beautiful cook books - we didn't purchase any just yet, purely because we don't know what the luggage situation will be come next Wednesday, but you can take a look here. I'm still dreaming about the tortellini...and chocolate torte...Sigh.
Off to the gay Cork scene, with one minor detour. After walking from Cafe Paradiso to Chambers, we realized they had only opened their doors 10 minutes prior, and that we were not so old that we were going to be the first ones into a gay bar at 9:40 at night, so around the block we went. And we were glad we did, as we stumbled upon Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, which provided for a few fantastic photo ops - sadly Lonely Planet didn't even list this one as a sight to see, but I recommend walking by at night at the very least.
Chambers - oh Chambers. Even though we delayed our arrival, we were still one of the first into the bar. Thankfully it quickly filled up, as we quickly emptied our glasses. We were suddenly surrounded by the college crowd quite literally drinking mixed drinks out of fishbowls. So we checked Chambers off the list and headed out after a few good songs...back up Patrick's Hill.
We're coming back with some amazing leg muscles. More to come!
