IRELAND, DAY 2: CORK

 July 5, 2024

Our next destination was Cork, located in (what else) County Cork, the largest and southernmost county of Ireland.

With a population of about 225,000, Cork is the second largest city in Ireland. That's a small population for the second largest city of a country! But then, the largest, Dublin, has fewer than 550,000 people.

My first impression of the city came from this fantastic mural, which I have since learned is entitled What Is Home? The artist, a guy named Asbestos, explains, "I painted this figure wearing a cardboard box on its head to start a conversation with the public about what home means to them. As a country we are currently in an existential crisis over housing and our need to put a roof over our heads. There's a fear and uncertainty about finding a safe space, and the system seems to be stacked in favour of the landlords." The mural, painted in 2021, is part of a street art project started during the 2020 lockdown.

It was mid-afternoon and we were hungry. We hadn't eaten much since breakfast. Bob had scoped out a restaurant weeks before the trip located in Cork's English Market--Farm Gate Café. 

We both ordered lamb stew and were a little disappointed. It was only average.

After lunch we walked through the market, buying bits of food here and there--chocolate, cheeses, olives, crackers, smoked salmon dip, mussels, and a basket of locally-grown strawberries.

We've been to many markets like this that focus on local products. They are a lot of fun. Check out the fish (below right) with a big chunk of ice in its mouth.

I LOVE the "paddidas" shirt. I wish I had bought one!

Back outside, we found more great street art, this one supporting Palestine:

And another one that looks like President Biden, but could be someone else.

Although it was late afternoon, I wanted to see more of the city before we left, so we chose two churches on our list of possible sites that were within walking distance. The first was the Holy Trinity Church, a Roman Catholic church in the Gothic Revival style that was started in the 1830s, opened in 1850, but not completely finished until 1890.

With such a dramatic exterior, we expected something really wonderful inside but were a little disappointed by the relatively simple style.

The church did have a tiny gift shop with some cute things. I bought myself some shamrock earrings and a shamrock necklace made of Connemara marble--a local green stone that is one of the rarest forms of marble in the world. These will be fun to wear on St. Patrick's Day!

The setting alongside Fr. Mathew Quay on the River Lee is the church's best feature.

Not quite ready to move on, I dragged Bob a half-mile to St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, another Gothic Revival church, but this time belonging to the Church of Ireland. It is dedicated to St. Finbar of Cork, the patron saint of the city. According to legend, a monastery was founded on this spot in the 7th century by St. Fin Barre, and the current church was built between 1865 and 1879. Signage in the cathedral notes that this has been a site of worship for fourteen centuries.  Impressive.

We approached from the rear of the cathedral . . .

. . . where we discovered that LDS temples are not the only churches with golden angels on the steeple. 

We walked around to the front . . .

. . . where the main entrance was surrounded by saints and apostles . . .

. . . and by the Ten Virgins, something I haven't seen before. It was nice to have some female representation (other than Mary).

A handy diagram on-site indicates who is who.

Okay, THIS is a little more interesting than the last place. (No offense meant, Holy Trinity Church.) That ceiling over the apse and sanctuary is very unique.

My favorite feature inside the cathedral is this colorful pulpit. Five stone relief figures decorate the center. First are the four evangelists: St. Matthew . . .

. . . St. Mark and St. Luke . . .

. . . and St. John, with St. Paul thrown in for good measure.

The church has an unusual display of the "maquettes," or small models made for the large stone carvings on the exterior of the church.

The stained class windows were designed by William Burges, the same man who designed the cathedral itself and most of the sculptures that decorate it. He is considered to be one of the greatest architects and designers of the Victorian Era. Altogether there are 74 windows, drawing on subject matter from the Old and New Testaments and even from the signs of the Zodiac. I like the windows depicting scenes from the life of Christ, such as these below. Note that the sequence begins in the lower left sequence, moves up then over to the top of the second sequence, then down and over to the third sequence, then up to the top of that sequence--in inverted "S" on its side.

From the Annunciation (lower left) to the Boy Jesus in the Temple (upper right):

From the baptism of Jesus (lower left) to Jesus teaching in the temple during his final week (upper right):

From the Last Supper (lower left) to the empty tomb (upper right):

From the women at the empty tomb (lower left) to the vision of Paul (upper right):

Well, it was time to go if we wanted to find our B&B before nightfall. We headed back to the car, but I tried to soak up as much as I could about Cork.

It is just a regular city with food delivery services.

We had walked by this monument several times during the day, and this time we stopped for a look. It is the National Monument Grand Parade (the name of the street it is on) and was erected to commemorate the Irish Patriots who died in uprisings against British rule in 1798, 1803, 1848, and1867. It was unveiled in 1906 and replaced a statue of King George the II, King of Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1760, on horseback. At the center of the monument is Ériu (Erin), the goddess of Ireland.

Cork had the usual impressive adornment of flowers, but it was in Cork that I began to notice these tiered planters bursting with colorful blooms. I saw them in almost every city after that. Judging by the frequent rain we experienced in the afternoons, I'm guessing only Mother Nature waters these luxuriant planters.

Hey, who is the friendly-looking fella on the cool bike?

At first I thought I wasn't familiar with this Irishman whose name was engraved in stone in the square surrounding him.

However, when I went to another side of the square, there was his name in a language I am familiar with, and then I realized I was in the presence of greatness.

Michael Collins led the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to secure independence from Great Britain from 1916 to 1922. He was born in County Cork in 1890. He fought in the six-day Easter Rising of 1916, the first armed conflict of the revolution. He was famous for his skills as a guerrilla warfare strategist and helped to negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treat signed in December 1921. He was killed in an ambush by anti-Treaty forces in 1922.

In my first post about this trip, I mentioned a movie that dramatizes Collins's life: Michael Collins (1969) starring Liam Neesom. If you are interested in this period of Irish history and Collins himself, it is a must-see.

I had my paparazzi moment with Michael Collins.

Aha, there is our parking garage. It was rather hard to miss. We saw many signs supporting Ukraine and Gaza in their respective wars. Ireland goes with the oppressed.

Overall, I think Cork is a city I could actually live in--not too large, socially conscious, culturally rich. I read some criticisms of the city saying it was dirty and needed major redesign, but I thought it was a great spot and not overly touristy.

Our B&B was just over 20 miles away, but we diverted from the freeway to find a bathroom, and after that the GPS put us on a weird but beautiful route of very narrow country roads.

We had booked a room at Cannaway House in Lehenagh, Carrigadrohid, Macroom, Cork. I write all that out just to show that I have no idea where we actually were and why there are four names. I assume Cork is the county, but I'm not sure about the rest. Anyway, our destination was a huge three-story house that has been meticulously renovated. Our room, of course, was on the third floor and there was no elevator.

We had a large bedroom and a bathroom almost as big as our bedroom at home.

You can tell from the view from our bedroom window that we were in the boonies. 

I was happy to put my feet up. (It didn't get dark until at least 10:00 PM, and it was light by about 5:30 AM, so the nights were very short.)

Bob, however, had other plans. Remember all those cheese and chocolates and fruits we had purchased at the market in Cork?

We finally got to bed and had a good night's sleep. The next morning we were rested, refreshed, and ready to keep exploring!