Cork, or Corcaigh in Irish, is the principal city of County Cork, and The Republic of Ireland's second largest city after Dublin. Cork is also where Irish Girl comes from, well from a little village just out of Cork to be completely accurate. I spent a good week and a half exploring the place and have come up with my list of Corkers!!
1. The Blarney Stone (pic 1 & 2)
Of course I had to go and kiss the Blarney Stone - it's probably the tourist pic of the whole trip so far!! It was quite a climb up the spiral staircase of the Blarney Castle ruins, then down on your back, with a very kind man helping you, lean all the way back. There are two rails to hold as you lean as far back as possible, then kiss the stone. I couldn't stop laughing, it just seemed so silly! It's all good though, job done, and now I have the gift of 7 years of eloquence!
2. Sally's Spiced Beef (pic 3)
OMG - this was wonderful. Irish Girl's mum, Sally, ordered this local specialty from her butcher for me to try. It's usually served at Christmas, but now and then comes out during the year for special occasions. It's a roll of beef that's submerged in a big bucket of mixed spices for a few days, then gently cooked like a pot roast in a bit of barely bubbling water for about 3 hours. It's sort of like Corned Beef but with the yumminess of cloves, cinnamon and a whole heap of dark spices! Mmmmmmmm.
3. Annie's (pic 4, 5 & 6)
Definitely the best restaurant in Cork. It's a "gastropub" and is to be found on Sundays Well road. I was told about this place when I first arrived, but didn't get there until the second last night there, so of course I ate there again on my last night. You can see above my first dinner there, oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, wonderful sexy pork belly with tangy sweet apple sauce and a big wack of crackling, followed by stuffed baked apple with caramel sauce. Dear me! DIVINEEEEEE.
4. The Butter Museum (pic 7)
Now this is a little gem. Cork was actually the hub of the world butter market at one time, and this museum is a quirky little place, next to the original butter market. It goes through the history of butter in the country, Irish butter's importance in the world, and has some cool old butter making machines and churns. Did you know that the reason butter was originally salted was for preservation?? Well I didn't! Go and check it out.
5. Brown Bread (pic 8)
Speaking of butter...well here's the bread part! I was introduced to Brown Bread on my second day in Ireland (with my Irish breaky) and have been eating it pretty much every day since. It's served with breakfast, lunch, and even dinner!! It's a heavy dark bread, full of grainy bits. It's really really heavy! Fills you up, and keeps that digestion system going!!! The taste is pretty much as it looks, though I've had some that has been quite sweet and moister than the usual dry brown bread. It's funny, because now, after two weeks, I sort of look forward to it!
6. The English Market (pic 9, 10)
The English Market is hidden in the middle of Cork, in alleyways, so go in search. It's a very very old market, and is still used today. There's also a famous cafe upstairs in the market that's well worth a visit. The FarmGate Cafe and Restaurant is a must. Unfortunately I just had one of the local brown scones, but the bangers and mash of the woman sitting next to me had me swooning with desire...it smelt soooooooo good!
7. Other Cork Stuff
Cork isn't too big or too small, and bloody great to walk around. It's on the River Lee, and they have some wonderful parks and walkways along the river banks to stroll or ride up and down. Cork is home to both the tallest and longest buildings in Ireland. You can see the longest building above (pic 11), the Mental Hospital, built in Victorian times, it's eerie sitting up there on the hill, and I was given a drive by at 1am and it was really really spooky! Of course, now, it's half restored to apartments, with not a mental patient in sight!
The last pic up there is the Bourbon Street bar. This bar is where I've been hanging out with Irish Girl - they sort of have a group of them who own it! Oh yeah baby!!! They have live Irish music every night - and many a night was spent here listening to wonderful haunting Irish music and um...well...drinking!!
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