A Day in Cork

English Market

Cork is known as a foodie city so I plan to spend the day eating.

Our first stop is St Anne’s Church known for its Shandon Bell Tower.

Next we head to the English Market. The market dates to 1778 making it one of the oldest covered markets in Europe. It reminds me a lot of a smaller version of St Lawrence Market in Toronto.

Elizabeth Fort and Nano Nagle

We stop next door at a coffee shop before heading to Elizabeth Fort which is small but interesting.

Our next stop is the Nano Nagle Place which is a restored çonvent started by a woman named Nano Nagle. Nagle and her nuns dedicated their lives to educating the poor in Cork with special attention to girls. At the time the English had made it illegal for Catholics to receive any education. Nagle worked secretly to set up schools for girls of impoverished families and later for boys as well.

We stop at a traditional fish and chips shop for lunch and go back to the fort to eat it at one of the picnic tables. The portion sizes are huge.

St Fin Barre’s Cathedral

I am so full that I can barely make my way to St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. It is a beautiful place, both inside and out. I’m amazed that even with so much detail, the cathedral took only 14 years to build. I end up getting a lot more information on the details in the architecture by an extremely knowledgeable church volunteer.

We head outside the Cathedral and travel the maze which is an outside replica of the one at Chartres.

University College Cork

We walk to the grounds of University College Cork which is situated beside the river. The campus is beautiful and there must have been a graduation ceremony because many students in gowns and parents are milling around.

Walking around, we notice many tropical looking plants which look rather out of place for what you expect to see in Ireland. I guess the wet weather allows these plants to thrive.

Shandon Bell Tower

The plan is to end our tour back at Shandon Bell Tower. People can climb the tower to get a great view of the city and ring the bell. Unfortunately we arrive at 4:30pm only to find out that it closed at 4:00pm. Boo hoo.

We head back to our accommodations to get ready to meet friends at a traditional pub for supper and Guinness.

This was the perfect ending for our time in Cork. Our meals were fabulous (Salmon) and then we head to a bar for traditional Irish music. Click here to see the video.