Because We've Got to Find the Fort!

Wednesday, May 23. Another restful night, another delicious breakfast. Time to see the countryside!

 

We left the B&B in Cork headed for Midleton to have the Jameson Experience. Jameson Irish Whiskey is produced in Middleton, and they have the old distillery open for tours. The distillery has been used by several distilling and brewing companies over the years before it was bought by Jameson. The original Jameson Distillery is in Dublin and is also open for tours. We passed our turn and had to go back toward town (you know you're out of place when you run out of town!), making us just a hair late walking into our timed tour. We didn't really miss anything, fortunately. Our tour guide walked us around the facility, pointing out how Irish whiskey is different from other distilled spirits, showing us old processes, and walking us by a lot of really cool old modes of transport for the whiskey. We then came to The World's Largest Potstill. Now we've had our picture taken with The World's Largest Bowling Pin and The World's (probably) Largest Shuttlecock, so we were eager to get our photo with The World's Largest Potstill. It proved difficult. You can see the whole structure through a glass wall in the building in which it is housed, but once you go inside you can only see the top. Yes, it's that big. 31,000 gallons big. At the end of the tour, we were ushered into the tasting room, where Alec and I became Certified Irish Whiskey Testers. We got certificates and everything. The tasting compared Irish whiskey to Scotch and bourbon. It also made me realize why I don't drink whiskey, scotch, or bourbon. But, a fun experience nonetheless. We moved on to the gift shop and then out the door to get on the road to Cobh.

 

Cobh, which was called Queenstown during British rule, is a harbor town famous for its associations with the Titanic and the Lusitania. The pronunciation of the word sounds like "cove," which is fitting for a harbor town. Of course, by visiting in the centennial year of the Titanic disaster we saw a LOT of signs, exhibits, historical markers, and general mentions of the Titanic. In fact, that was one reason why I wanted to visit. Once we arrived, I realized there's more to this town than two famous ships. Like lots of unnamed ships that carried immigrants from Ireland to the US during the famine. And a really beautiful cathedral overlooking the harbor. Lovely place with bright buildings and interesting history.

 

We started at the Cobh Heritage Center, investigating the immigration history of the town. Annie Moore, the first immigrant processed through Ellis Island in New York, left with her two younger brothers from Cobh (then Queenstown). She and her siblings are immortalized in a statue on the waterfront. In the Titanic area, they had several photos taken by a young man who left the Titanic when it arrived in Queenstown. The young man had just graduated from seminary and, as a graduation present, his uncle bought him a ticket on the Titanic for her maiden voyage. His ticket, however, was only for the portion of the ship's route that went from Southampton to Queenstown. So, while he was onboard he took some of the only photos of the Titanic. His photos are haunting in light of the tragedy about to befall the people trapped within the film. I believe they said that 27 passengers disembarked at Queenstown and 130-ish boarded. Lucky 27.

 

The Lusitania also sunk off the coast of Cobh in 1915. The town housed survivors and sent out rescue ships. They also had the task of dealing with the dead. A monument sits on the road fronting the harbor to the rescuers and the victims.

 

We walked down the harbor and saw the sad, rotting remains of the wooden pier from which the passengers boarding the Titanic left on the ferry out to the ship. It was outside the White Star Line office, which is now a Titanic museum. If you look at it long enough, you can feel the excitement of those immigrants ready to board the world's most magnificent ship. It's eerie.

 

The only way you can go away from the harbor is uphill, so uphill we went. Looming over the buildings and shops in town is St. Colman's Cathedral. It's a nice hike up there for two out-of-shape desk jockeys, but the view is amazing and the cathedral is lovely. The commanding presence of the cathedral also gives you a view into the backyards of some homes and businesses below, which was an interesting way to see more of regular life. Clotheslines, kids toys, and other artifacts of everyday life were revealed from this vantage point.

 

Once we made it back down the hill, and saw several of the little ice cream advertisements outside different shops, we loaded back up in the Ka and decided to drive down to Kinsale. Kinsale is another pretty harbor town, a bit more touristy than Cobh. It seems like a very relaxed, laid-back kind of place that I wouldn't mind using as a base for exploration on a future trip. It also is apparently a gourmet center of Ireland. Our B&B hostess had recommended that we visit a particular restaurant, Fishy Fishy, while we were there. And believe me, she was soooo right! I just had a simple fish and chips, but Alec had some shrimp in a Thai cream sauce that was awesome. The bread before the meal was fantastic as well. So, if you ever find yourself in Kinsale, do yourself a favor and eat at Fishy Fishy.

 

After a bit of shopping and dinner at Fishy Fishy, we got back in the Ka and decided to try to find James Fort, one of two forts in the immediate area of Kinsale. We followed some signs that eventually led us directly to a parking lot with no visible outlet or fort. A disappointed Alec turned the car around in the direction of Cork and we started on our way. On the road to Cork, we found a sign pointing in the direction of Charles Fort, the other fort in the immediate area. Since we didn't have any reason not to, we followed the signs. A wrong turn or two and a windy road later, we stumbled upon Charles Fort, a fortification built to protect the harbor. It was closed for the day, but we could still walk around the grounds. As a cloudy twilight snuck up on us, we bounded down the grassy hills next to the tall, stone walls to see the sea. In the far distance a cluster of sailboats were making their way into the harbor. We ran into a woman walking her dog through the fort area and she offered to take our picture. Such lovely people.

 

A very happy Alec got back into the car and took us back to Cork. We parked at our B&B but decided that we didn't want to go in just yet. We walked down the street to investigate the gated campus of University College, Cork. Beautiful old stone buildings mixed with modern classroom and activity buildings, complete with modern sculpture and perfectly manicured greens. And we found the Civil Engineering building!

 

A leisurely walk to a small grocery for a pop ended a lovely day. We went back to our B&B content and ready to watch a little Irish TV before passing out.

 

Coming Up: Will they ever find Glendalough? Tune in next time to find out!

 

For more information on the Jameson Experience, visit http://www.irelandwhiskeytrail.com/?pg=jameson_distillery_experience_midleton_cork_ireland.php.

For more information on Charles Fort, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fort_(Ireland) and http://kinsale.ie/charles-fort/.