Cobn and Cork - I didn’t love it

 What a bold title! But a little misleading too.

We got to Cobn on an overcast day, really our first one. Time for lunch. The cafe was advertising that it was nominated for “Munster cafe of the year 2024”. Well I am really not sure why. I did enjoy the back street tour of Cobn up and down steep streets, as we followed our nose to the waters edge. So many vistas unable to be ‘captured’ from the back seat of the car. We had a short time to wander along and take the following snaps, and see a big Navy vessel being tugged along. 

Despite it being well-exposed, the Annie Moore memorial is still powerful, especially the scared look on the little boy.

We have noticed that Ireland is fond of celebrating a range of athletes who all came second. There are not too many winners. See second place getter Sonia O’Sullivan below, immortalized in bronze - when she actually got silver!

Although Ciaran told us that a swimmer won a gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics, after practicing swimming in the Liffey River. Fact or tall tale?

(I have since learned that an Irish woman got a gold in athletics I think in either Sydney or London 2012).

The following picture gives a better sense of the vibrancy of the location.

Onwards to Cork City, where cathedrals continue to dominate, and the industrial quaysides are not yet redeveloped apartments. We spent most of the time in The English Market - I got a coffee, and Irish post offices can be open on Saturdays. Look out for the postman girls.

Yet the old and the new can be usefully combined as in this intriguing building.

Clearly that facade was too special to throw away. Perhaps where the architect’s grandfather had his first paying job?

The bustling crowds of Cork seemed to be the locals doing their Saturday shop and meet up, rather than almost a 50:50 split of locals:tourists in Dublin. We saw several large groups of teenagers, but also parents and toddlers, food shoppers and the inside of a very squishy multistory car park.

As Kelly noted, this will be the largest city we see before Belfast.