Cork to Dublin

Shock of the century, John and I actually took a taxi to get to the bus stop today.  It was pouring rain in Cork this morning and windy, so we decided we didn’t want to get soaked by walking 2.3 km with our luggage to the bus stop.

Since the bus strike is still ongoing, I called a cab company at 7:30 am to book for 10:30, and we wondered if the cab would be late, given the transportation situation.  The cab rocked up right on time, and when the driver got out, he told us we were privileged, as we were the first fare of the day that he picked up on time.

The cabbie was awesome and we chattered away.  There seems to be a bit of a rivalry between Dublin and Cork, as the Cork cab driver said Cork is the real capital of the Republic and ‘they,’ meaning those from Dublin, killed Michael Collins, who would have been the leader of the Republic.  Collins was ambushed and murdered near Cork during the civil war.

Our timing all worked out so well, as the taxi pulled up on the street beside the buses, we got out, grabbed our luggage and got right on the bus.  The cab driver told us to check with the driver to make sure we were on the right bus to Dublin Airport.  I asked the passengers in line and they said the bus was to Dublin city and they thought the next one in line was to Dublin Airport.  We walked to it and the driver was loading luggage so I asked him, and he confirmed that we had the correct bus.

The most bizarre thing was that the driver never checked to see if we had a paid fare, we just got on and away we went.  I don’t know if this all happened prior to our arrival or not, but we had booked online and went to an Internet café to print our tickets a few days prior.

We had a really good bus trip to Dublin Airport, the bus was almost full, most of the passengers were young people who are obviously catching flights out of Dublin.  We got off the bus and then walked to the proper zone to catch the shuttle to our hotel.

We walked to a local pub and sat up at the bar, which is the best place to sit if you want to talk to the locals.  A man sitting at the bar told us that if we wanted to eat and sit somewhere nicer, we should go to the lounge.  I told him we don’t eat, and this place was very nice compared to the local bars we have in Canada.

We talked to him and another guy sitting on the next stool.  After we waxed on about Ireland and the Irish talked about Canada, the conversation invariably tends toward the philosophical, and that is when things get very interesting.  We also talk about the USA and the subject of Trump always comes up.  We have had great conversations throughout Ireland, as the Irish are social and thoughtful people.

We just kicked back tonight in our hotel as we have to get to the airport at a fairly early time tomorrow for our flight out.  This has been an incredible trip, I love this landscape and the Irish people more than I ever imagined.  The Irish have suffered greatly throughout their tumultuous history, yet they are grounded, laid-back, kind, friendly, optimistic and have a great sense of humour.  The landscape is indescribable at times as it shifts from haunting misty valleys to dramatic coastlines and to brilliant hues of green.  We could not get enough of it.  I don’t know, this place seems to sink in deep, it burrows in, down to the marrow of our bones.

Cobh

The streets of Cork are really quiet on a Sunday morning.  We walked from our apartment to the train station to catch the 9:00 a.m. departure to Cobh (pronounced Cove), which is a short half hour journey.  There were very few passengers on the train, and even fewer stayed on as far as Cobh.

Cobh is a fishing town on a small island in the harbour of Cork.  It is a natural, deep water harbour that saw a lot of Irish emigration.  This would have been a place of heartbreak, as parents and relatives would have bid a final farewell to their loved ones, knowing they would never see them again.  During the famine years, and up to 1950, about 3 million Irish left from Cobh.

Cobh was also the final port of call for the Titanic, which sat in the harbour, while 123 passengers took the tender ships PS Ireland and PS America out to the Titanic to board.  Tender ships were smaller ships that took passengers and supplies from the port to the ship.

There is a Titanic Memorial Garden in Cobh that overlooks the final anchorage of the Titanic in Cork Harbour, and the garden commemorates the 123 passengers that embarked from Cobh.  Of the 123 passengers, 77 died in the waters of the Atlantic.

It was a beautiful morning with virtually no wind and sunny skies when we were in Cobh.  We had the most fun talking to the locals who were out and about on the streets.  The old men are always the most animated, the most interesting, the most opinionated, and we love talking to them.  The people of Cobh are very friendly.

On one particular street, we noticed a lot of people carrying something wrapped in foil.  When we walked past a doorway, there was a sign indicating that a girls sporting team was having a cake sale.  Given the Irish love of cakes, the sale was doing a brisk trade.

We caught the train back to Cork and went for a tasty latte, then did our shopping for flight food in preparation for our flight on Monday.  Since the majority of airline food is inedible, we make sure we have our own food supply.

Tonight we will pack up and then walk quite a distance to catch a bus to Dublin in the morning.  The regular bus line is still on strike so we had to book with the company that operates the airport bus.  We opted to book a hotel near the airport, so this bus will take us to the airport where we will then catch the free shuttle to the hotel.

The tenders departed from this pier to the Titanic

Fishing boats in Cobh Harbour

Stack from the 1907 Coal Electrical Power Plant

The channel to the Atlantic Ocean, with Pilot Boats in the foreground

Power Plant Smoke Stack from the other side

Love the name of this bar

23 Victorian style houses from 1850, locally known as, the 'deck of cards'

Ogam Stones

Ogam is the earliest writing in the Irish language.  It is an alphabet, where the script is cut into the edge and sides of stones.  The earliest Ogam stones date from the 5th to 7th century and recorded the names of people, as a type of commemoration or memorial.  The inscriptions start at the bottom and move up the stone and sometimes they continue across the top and down the other edge.

The Cork University collection began in 1861 and continued until 1945, all stones, with the exception of one stone, are from Co. Cork.  The collection is housed in the ‘Stone Corridor’ of which is part of the Main Quadrangle that is constructed of limestone blocks.

Many of the stones were found in souterrains, which is a series of underground chambers or passageways that were likely used as a refuge from attack.  Some of the stones came from stone circles and one had a modern use as a lintel in a pigsty.

We went on a walking route along the River Lee and dropped in at the University to look at the Ogam Stones.  There are lots of stones in situ in the countryside in Co. Kerry but we never did get to visit one.

After we left the University we simply did a lot of walking in Cork; however, we were not feeling too peppy today, due to our late night and lack of sleep.  Therefore, we called it a day fairly early and waked back to our apartment.  Tomorrow we plan on an excursion out of the city by train.

Cork University

The Stone Corridor

Ogam Stone, deeply cut

Stone With Cup Marks

Beautiful Door in Stone Corridor

River Lee

Trees are leafing out, the trees are huge

At long last, the final installment of the History of Ireland...

Good Friday Agreement, 1998

This was a power sharing agreement that gave the representatives of each community the veto over the other.  Legislation would require a 60% approval to pass and the British Secretary of State would remain in Northern Ireland.  The British would still have responsibility for law and order.  Paramilitary prisoners were to be released in two years if the cease-fire was maintained.  There was also a commitment to fair employment and anti discrimination.  North - South administrative bodies were set up to address border issues, tourism, education, health and environment.

However, the issue of IRA weapons decommissioning was holding up the power-sharing agreement; this dragged on into 1999 and 2000.  In the 2001 election, Paisley’s DUP replaced the Ulster Unionists as the party with the majority of seats in the assembly.  Then in 2003, the Sinn Fein party replaced the SDLP as the nationalist party with the most seats, the DUP also held their majority, the extremist parties had overcome the moderates.

Finally, in 2005, the IRA decommissioning of weaponry was verified by independent witnesses and new negotiations could proceed.  This led to the St. Andrews Agreement of 2006.  Assembly authority would be imposed over both ministers and the North - South administrative bodies and there was a ministerial code of conduct.  The Catholic’s position had improved as their culture was promoted and strict anti discrimination and fair employment legislation exists.

The power-sharing executive finally met in May of 2007 with Paisley of DUP as first minister and McGuinness of Sinn Fein as deputy first minister.  This was such a long time coming, unbelievably long.