Words are worth a thousand pictures: Part II
Now, the next part of this trip I called, “Taking a Holiday from my Holiday”. I spent the weekend touring about the coastline seeing as much as I could in 3 days.
Saturday Morning:
South from Limerick is Cork, which I drove right on past and straight to Cobh, the last place on earth that saw the Titanic. Cobh is a beautiful little harbour town with very narrow, steep streets. There were concerts in the gazebo on the beach and a farmers market where I bought a veggie tart for lunch, followed by a pear tart for dessert. :p Though I didn’t make it to the Emmigrants Museum I did tour through the Church of St. Colmon where many who boarded the Titanic received a blessing. (In general, the Churches and Cathedrals are spectacular and one should take time to visit them no matter what your spiritual tastes.)
Next I drove around the harbour to Kinsale. Now, you’re going to hear this a lot but Ireland is lousy with quaint little medieval towns and quaint little fishing villages. Kinsale is no exception. The famous Kinsale Smock comes from this city. Kinsale was a bit trendier than Cobh but no less quaint for the boats floating in the harbour.
From Kinsale I started up the coast towards Killarny.
(In fact, after spending so much time inland it was a nice change of pace to smell the salt air and hear the cries of the gulls. Wherever I drove it was with the passenger window rolled down so I could get a good whiff of sea air!)
Somewhere around Skibereen I picked up some high school kids on their way to Bantry. It was nice to have some company in the car for a bit and they were grateful for the lift.
This pre-empted my scenic tour of that area but it turned out for the best. You see, you can’t get anywhere from anywhere in Ireland quickly. If it’s not the roads, tractors or cows that are slowing you down, it’s the views. Once I dropped the kids off (ach, that makes me sound old) I got some dinner and planned on an ambitious route to Killarny… came to my senses and finally stopped for the night in the wee mountain town of Glencairiff.
It was close to 10p when I stopped for the night and it took a couple of tries to find a room since most people/hosts had gone to bed already. After cleaning up I walked from pub to pub looking for the ‘ceol agus craic’ (music and fun). There was music coming from every pub but I settled on the one next to my B&B because it sounded the most traditional. I’ve found that in general traditional Irish music usually includes a really bad drum machine and a country style swing to it - tonight was no exception.
Tony and John played country style Irish tunes but theyhad the best good drum machine in town. I was singing right along with the rest of the bar crowd to every tune. Next to me was Gus, a nice older fellow who told me stories and bought my drinks. Gus told me about a dog he once had that he’d received from another family. This dog never listened to commands but was always alert to its name. Gus said it took his family a time before they realized that the dog only knew Gaelic, seeing as how the last family who owned this dog was from Dingle where Gaelic is the first language.
The highlight of this evening was marked by my debut performance in front of a pub crowd in a non-traditional session setting. When Tony heard I was a musician he asked if I wanted to play the break I said, “Yeah”! I played a couple of Irish tunes and Girrrl – all to rousing applause. So, there it is folks, I’ve played my music in an Irish pub!
Saturday Morning:
South from Limerick is Cork, which I drove right on past and straight to Cobh, the last place on earth that saw the Titanic. Cobh is a beautiful little harbour town with very narrow, steep streets. There were concerts in the gazebo on the beach and a farmers market where I bought a veggie tart for lunch, followed by a pear tart for dessert. :p Though I didn’t make it to the Emmigrants Museum I did tour through the Church of St. Colmon where many who boarded the Titanic received a blessing. (In general, the Churches and Cathedrals are spectacular and one should take time to visit them no matter what your spiritual tastes.)
Next I drove around the harbour to Kinsale. Now, you’re going to hear this a lot but Ireland is lousy with quaint little medieval towns and quaint little fishing villages. Kinsale is no exception. The famous Kinsale Smock comes from this city. Kinsale was a bit trendier than Cobh but no less quaint for the boats floating in the harbour.
From Kinsale I started up the coast towards Killarny.
(In fact, after spending so much time inland it was a nice change of pace to smell the salt air and hear the cries of the gulls. Wherever I drove it was with the passenger window rolled down so I could get a good whiff of sea air!)
Somewhere around Skibereen I picked up some high school kids on their way to Bantry. It was nice to have some company in the car for a bit and they were grateful for the lift.
This pre-empted my scenic tour of that area but it turned out for the best. You see, you can’t get anywhere from anywhere in Ireland quickly. If it’s not the roads, tractors or cows that are slowing you down, it’s the views. Once I dropped the kids off (ach, that makes me sound old) I got some dinner and planned on an ambitious route to Killarny… came to my senses and finally stopped for the night in the wee mountain town of Glencairiff.
It was close to 10p when I stopped for the night and it took a couple of tries to find a room since most people/hosts had gone to bed already. After cleaning up I walked from pub to pub looking for the ‘ceol agus craic’ (music and fun). There was music coming from every pub but I settled on the one next to my B&B because it sounded the most traditional. I’ve found that in general traditional Irish music usually includes a really bad drum machine and a country style swing to it - tonight was no exception.
Tony and John played country style Irish tunes but theyhad the best good drum machine in town. I was singing right along with the rest of the bar crowd to every tune. Next to me was Gus, a nice older fellow who told me stories and bought my drinks. Gus told me about a dog he once had that he’d received from another family. This dog never listened to commands but was always alert to its name. Gus said it took his family a time before they realized that the dog only knew Gaelic, seeing as how the last family who owned this dog was from Dingle where Gaelic is the first language.
The highlight of this evening was marked by my debut performance in front of a pub crowd in a non-traditional session setting. When Tony heard I was a musician he asked if I wanted to play the break I said, “Yeah”! I played a couple of Irish tunes and Girrrl – all to rousing applause. So, there it is folks, I’ve played my music in an Irish pub!
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