Bloggo Buon Viaggio: Ireland in the Spring IV - A Day in Kinsale, a Night in Cork

On the morning of my final day in Cork, having had enough of organized tours for a bit, I took myself to a very pretty coastal town with a good bit of history as well, Kinsale. 

If you'll allow me to review briefly: my first two day trips (to the Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough & Kilkenny, first, and to the Dingle Peninsula, second) were really quite wonderful, whilc the third day trip (to Blarney and Cobh) was a great disappointment. Review finished let me look forward to a bit - the trip I took on my own to Kinsale was redemptive. While not as spectacularly beautiful as sights on the first two, this was such a charming spot that I wanted to rent a flat or cottage and just stay for a while...a long while. After the following sidebar, I'll tell you why!

Sidebar re return trip Cork-Kinsale: If any of YOU decide to do that, and Dottore Gianni recommends strongly that you do, here's the easy and inexpensive way to go - via local bus. I think the return was 12 Euros. The ride takes about an hour. Brace yourself as I think this ride is much more about the Cork Airport than going to Kinsale, which is the end of the line. I would say a good 15 minutes of the hour is spent dropping off (on the way down, if you go in the morning) and picking up (on the way back) people at that location. There is a large business park at the airport, and it seems that many who live in Cork work at that park. I don't think we added anyone at the airport in the morning, and there were only two of us who traveled on to Kinsale. In the afternoon heading back to Cork, there was a very large line at the airport arrivals terminal, so that, while the first half hour of the return trip there were very few people on the bus, at the airport it became packed, and because of paying the driver the fare and getting luggage in the hold under the bus it took some time before we left the airport for Cork - fortunately that part of the ride is only a short trip.

More than many of you may have wanted to know about the local bus to Kinsale! 

Having got off the bus, which drops one only about 50 yards from the friendly visitor center, I visited that establishment (also the public loo just next to it), got a map and some very friendly advice, and plunged in to a quick search of the town, ahead of a tour of the city that I really wanted to join. More of the tour later, what I saw of the town now. 

I took this shot just after I got off the bus in Kinsale - the stop was just across the street
 - as you can see, not the most promising day 

I first and almost immediately noticed that, even given a very gray start to the day - no precipitation, thank goodness - Kinsale has a lovely harbor and is a colorful place. I left the 

Temperance Hall

visitor center armed with map and instructions as to how to get to two sights that are very worth seeing. As I began my short trek, the first building I saw was the least colorful building in the city, the gray facade of the former Temperance Society HQ! Sobering moment! But on venturing just a block or two farther along, I saw on just about every street not mere color, but bright, cheerful color, which did much to alleviate the gray in the sky (and in the temperance hall!).

Colorful garage - and beer garden - just out of sight of Temperance Hall heh heh

Another colorful street, featuring the Armada Bar - stay tuned to see why it's thus named

And another - good place to grab a bite on the run!

I'd definitely buy my seafood here

While not every street is lucky enough to have an artsy directory on its wall, this one does!

A humorous Guinness poster on a wall adds color - and fun!

This place looks inviting

Some places you expect to be colorful, such as cafes with names such as the Lemon Leaf, and bars and pubs, but even garages celebrated their existence with splashes of red. I was especially taken with the workshop of one fellow who obviously had a talent working metal, his trade, as well as a good sense of humor. As I walked through its streets the buildings of Kinsale seemed to insist that the skies brighten as well, and they began to. The day was off to a good start. 

The metal worker's place - check out all the "stuff" on his metal arch

My first "site" was Desmond Castle, a small affair right downtown - well, I should say uptown, as it sits on a gentle 

Model of the castle in its entry way

rise above the lowest level - I suppose I should say sea level, for, as I was to learn later in the day, in the sixteenth century the part of town at sea level would have been just that - sea. Gradually that area silted up and people began to live on it. Of course with global warming the sea might claim it back again, though the situation in Kinsale is not as dire as it is in Venice, for example. 

Desmond Castle - how do I put this? Certainly worth maybe an hour of your time...I didn't spend quite that much in it and I felt sated. But it's at the castle that one begins to learn about the history of the city. It's fairly kid-friendly, which makes sense as I imagine that local schools make use of it - what better way to learn than at a place in which for hundreds of years history really lived? There are wax figures - some better than others. The first you'll see is the lord of the castle, who built the place in around 1500, greeting you grimly at the edge of the staircase. His story is told simply enough in descriptive text on a plaque next to him.

The first lord of the castle - chipper looking fella, yes?

As one proceeds up the stairs one learns that for some time the castle served as a prison, primarily for French prisoners in the seventeenth century, and for crews of American ships 

A French prisoner?

during our Revolutionary War. and there is also a plaque that relates the Battle of Kinsale, probably the most important event in the history of the town. In 1601 Spanish forces were attempting to use Ireland as a back door to England, and the Spaniard in charge used Desmond Castle as an arsenal. At this time many of the Irish already hated their British overlords, understandably, as they were treated as serfs instead of as fellow countrymen.  An alliance of sorts was formed and a combination of Irish and Spanish forces waged a battle with a smaller English army that, through stealth and clever tactics managed to defeat both of them. This victory, only a few years before the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign (and life), was a prime catalyst to a marked increase in English authoritarian rule over Ireland, so it's seen by many as a very dark day in Irish history. For the Spanish it was just one more embarrassing defeat, but not nearly so embarrassing as when, less than fifteen years before the British destroyed its seemingly invincible Armada.

Battle of Kinsale plaque

It has been said that the Battle of Kinsale changed Irish history, because of the increased domination by the British. As a result many Irish ruling families left the country to try their fortune in almost any place not Ireland, including the New World. Known as the Flight of the Earls, it was part of a larger emigration from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century, during which time millions of Irish left their native land. 

From wild geese to wine geese

A more generic term for this mass migration tagged the people who left "Wild Geese." This connects with the second title of Desmond Castle: The International Wine Museum. As such it is frankly not much, at least according to Dottore Gianni. Kinsale had been since the late fifteenth century a 

Tapestry with ties to wine,
taken from the Book of Kells

center of the wine trade, given its convenience to France, where for many years ships plied back and forth, carrying wine for export and sale. The Wine Museum tells this tale, and also plays on the Wild Geese. It seems that several of those who emigrated became known as the "Wine Geese," as they used their knowledge of wine to become involved in the wine trade in several countries, including the U.S. It's not uninteresting but hardly earth-shattering. But it's another reason to visit Desmond Castle.

This stained glass window in the museum is a copy from a French church,
showing St Patrick drinking wine with an early king of Ireland

St Multose Church

Some of the cemetery at St Multose

After my visit to the castle I went in search of an important church, Kinsale's oldest, St Multose by name. Multose founded the original monastery here in the sixth century, and is the patron saint of Kinsale.  The church you can see today was built circa 1190. SAD to say, as I really love old churches, St Multose was closed at the time I tried to visit. Still I walked around it, had a look at its graveyard, and was more or less satisfied when I left it to explore the harbor before joining the tour.

As you can see, it's getting much nicer in Kinsale - love the way the clouds are reflected in the still water

By this time the sky was really clearing, which delighted me. I was more than halfway through my visit to Ireland and the only day that was a washout weather-wise (as well as tour-wise) was the day before my visit to Kinsale. Good! 

One of the many memorials along Kinsale's waterway to those claimed by the sea

If memory serves, this mast serves as a reminder of the Spanish in Kinsale and the Battle of Kinsale - but sadly, my memory does not always serve - should have written it down!

There are sculpted statues and other monuments having to do with the sea, particularly to those who were taken by it, 

throughout Kinsale, but several are placed appropriately on 

the waterfront. With or without memorials, it's a very pretty harbor, not as dramatic as some of the sights I've seen on my Ireland visit, but soothing, and there's a lot to be said for that.

I strolled towards a former fortress at a strategic location, James Fort. A more important fortification, a star fort called Fort Charles, is also in the area but a few kilometers out so I'd not see that today. Even James Fort was a bit far afield if I
wanted to get back in time to catch the tour, so I returned to the visitor center, at which the tour begins.

What's so special about this particular walking tour? Well, I first read of it in Rick Steves's book on Ireland, and he simply raves about it. A good-sized group had gathered by the time I 

The tour I joined

arrived, for Don and Barry's Historic Stroll through Kinsale. Begun by Don, several years ago, the younger Barry joined him and the two take turns telling the tale of Kinsale. Barry was to be our tour guide today, but Don stopped by just before the tour began to assure us that we'd have a great time. The two men are confident, as the tour cost of 6 Euros (and more than worth that) is not collected until the tour ends. If not completely satisfied, just walk away, though I don't think many do. There is a daily tour throughout the year at 11:15, and another, earlier tour is added in the summer. 

Barry started us off at the waterfront, as so much of Kinsale's history is tied intimately to the sea. We then head up to the High Street, which is literally high. As I've already 

Heading uphill on Barry's tour

mentioned, much of the land at sea level was once upon a time submerged in the sea, and if you look around, literally, at Kinsale from the waterfront, you'll see that there is a fairly quick rise on all sides except of course on the sea side. From the height it is rather easy to get a sense of the town in general, and of that most important event in its history, the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. Barry does a great job describing it in detail, but in a very condensed fashion, easy to understand, interesting to those not interested in warfare as well as to those who are.

View from the area at which Barry explained the Battle of Kinsale

He repeatedly connects past to present, which is another way of pulling tourists into the history of the town. For instance, at one vantage point he looks up at a still higher street, the street where he himself went to school. Then looks down on a stairway leading to the lowest part of town and tells us that this was a good escape route for a fleet-footed student, away from the nuns that taught him, particularly one who'd been seen smoking outside the school!

Barry's shortcut from school!

This interesting building is the old courthouse, now museum - it may look a tad out of place - very Dutch design - well it was built when William of Orange (yes, a Dutchman) was on the throne of England.

He then leads us down that staircase, pointing out an historical pub which is also his dad's favorite, then takes us to an even older pub, built in 1691 and the tour ends in that 

Barry on right, in front of a very old pub - est 1691

square, which also looks out upon the old courthouse, now the city museum (sad to say closed more often than open these days), which offers more information about the Battle of Kinsale, also of its relationship to the torpedoing of the Lusitania, and of one of Barry's last subjects on the tour, the tale of Alexander Selkirk, who shipped out from here and who was abandoned by the ship's captain - marooned on a small island. The real life Robinson Crusoe, immortalized by Daniel Defoe's novel.

I thought this was a memorial to Alexander Selkirk, aka Robinson Crusoe, But looking closely at some of the inscription, it reads "In memory of all lost seafarers from the port of Kinsale"

My words describing the tour are not expressing properly just how wonderful it was, what a grand story-teller Barry is, and the amount of information I took with me from it. About an hour and a half of your time, one of the best ways to spend some of your time in Kinsale - which by the way, Barry pronounces kin-SAIL, second syllable accented, probably to remind us that even in the city's name we are reminded of things nautical. 

Sidebar on pronunciation and coincidence: first, pronunciation: Dottore Gianni wondered how exactly to pronounce the city's name before Barry demonstrated the proper version. He'd thought maybe KIN-sel (rhymes with tinsel) or KIN-sale (which, after you hear kin-SAIL you realize would place the accent on the wrong syllable). He remembers with some pain his first trip with students to Edinburgh, in August 2000 - he was riding with said students on the train from London to Edinburgh, and they were getting very close to their destination. The good doctor pointed out a particularly picturesque village - and the doctor's voice carries, believe me I know - named Berwick-Upon-Tweed. This name he pronounced BURR-wick - makes sense to us Americans, yes? But two old women in the seat behind him began to giggle as he said it. He turned to them, they smiled and gently correct him: BARE-ick. Aaaahhh! Embarrassed before his students, Dottore Gianni smiled bravely, thanked the women profusely...and NEVER forgot how to pronounce that name again!

Second, coincidence: on the walk I struck up a conversation with a nice couple in I think their late 50s. It turned out we all had come to Ireland from Greenville SC! Our chat continued intermittently walking between points on the tour - of course we agreed that we'd probably bump into each other when we got back. So far we haven't - he lives just off the golf course near the hospital, she lives nearer me - I thought they were married...instead they were in a liaison...perhaps even a dangerous liaison! You could practically smell the money on them, though they weren't ostentatious, and as Dottore Gianni has oft noted, in this blog and other places as well, "The very rich are different from you and me." (thanks, Scott Fitzgerald for that pithy quote that seems tailor-made for me.) So I doubt we'll meet again.

Fishy Fishy!

  After the tour I had several options, but I wanted a good meal and I bolted to the best known restaurant in town: Fishy Fishy. Don't let the silly name fool you. Some of the finest 

seafood I've ever eaten! It was hake, again - even better than that I had on my first afternoon in Cork - and accompanied by a delicious bean mix - I wish I'd thought to ask what that was an/or how to make it, because it was heaven! That and the glass of fine pinot grigio I chose to accompany it - plus, nearly forgot - a small platter of three kinds of bread, butter, and then some buttery/cheese maybe mix in served in a shell that was wonderful - was the way I ended my lovely day in colorful Kinsale.

The good doctor at Fishy Fishy

A great sculpture at a seafood place! That fish has been cleaned!

Back to Cork, where I had a quiet evening. I DID have a stroll, being careful to remain on my side of the bridge. I didn't need to get lost again in that town I never quite learned to like. I have written in the blog on Blarney and Cobh that I was a little surprised to see that there was a mini entertainment mecca only a block from me on MacCurtain . Next to one another two musical bars, and across the street from that a comedy club.

A confession: most music venues I came across did not even begin "trad" music sessions until 9:30 pm. By that time, after long, hard and wonderful days of touring, I was nearly ready for bed - and Dottore Gianni already asleep! 

So I walked back to the hotel and out again I did not venture. Lunch had been very late, very large in Kinsale, so I found myself wanting very little to eat. Again I returned to the market where I'd bought my sandwich the first night, and that, along with ale and memories of Kinsale, a town I imagined I could very easily learn to love (and now I do - Dottore Gianni too), was enough for me.

Next up, if you can stand it, Galway and the Aran Islands!