Corked
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
352
450
Trip End
Ongoing
Cork,
Ireland
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Does Cork come from Cork?
There was only one thing to do, and that was to find out.
Luckily for me, I work a guy called Darragh, and he comes from Cork, so he gave me the lowdown on what to see.
Trying to find the hostel we were staying in was a nightmare. As you come into Cork, you are hit with a series of one way streets. The GPS was telling me one thing, and I kept missing theturn offs. Eventually, we pulled into the carpark, paid up and were given our key. Now we have stayed in some shitters over the years, but fuck me, we were being ripped off. Personally, they should have paid us to stay there !!! We dumped the bags and hit the streets, in the town that is home to both Murphys and Beamish. I had been told by a Darragh the Corkian who I work with that Murphys is the dogs in these parts, so the plan was to do a little sight seeing, then have a pint of Corks favourite tipple.
The City
Amazingly, just like every Irish city we have ever been to, there was a river that runs through it which supplied the water for the Murphys and Beamish. Note to self, don't piss in the river as you could end up drinking your own urine later !!! I had also been told that this place rivaled Dublin as the place to be, so this really had to be seen. We took a walk down St Patrick street and there were little alleys running off either side with loads of bars and restaurants, but we kept on walking. We crossed the river again and we came across the Beamish factory, but all we saw was a tanker with that little known Irish beer plastered all over it. Fosters !!! I must try some later on. Down the road was St Finbarre's Cathedral. All the gates were locked, but it looked impressive, so we decided that we would come back tomorrow. During dinner, I did discover that I had a new love, and her name was Murphys. It was so good, much better than Guinness, not as bitter either, so I had another. We tried to find a pub that played traditional Irish music, but there was no place. We did ask why nobody was playing, but we were told that Saturday was the day for relaxation, and the way they relax was to drink Murphys, so we followed suit. I had one more, and then I died !!!
After we got back from Blarney, we drove over the the church of St Annes, or as some call it, the four faced liar. We went there because there was a tower you can climb and then you can ring the bells. Darragh had done it years ago, so I was up for it, however there was building works going on, so the place was all locked up. Downer !!! Also, the four faces on the tower of all tell different times, hence the other name for it. We parked the car up and walked back over to St Finbarre's Cathedral. There was a service going on, so we didn't walk around inside, just through the old graveyard. Whilst doing this, I received a text from an Irish guy called Melvin. We had met him in Lahore and he had crossed over with us into Amritsar, so we had arranged to have lunch. It was great to catch up and talk about the good times we had in Pakistan. The three of us agreed that given the chance, we would be there tomorrow. We only had an hour and a half, and then we had to leave. It is only 240ish K's back to Dublin, but with the way the roads are here, it took around three and a half hours, and this being Ireland, it also pissed down on the way back !!!
And was this the equal of Dublin? Well it was loads smaller, but the prices were a match for Dublin's, and Dublin is one of the most expensive cities that I have been to.
Oh yeah, I never did find out if cork came from Cork !!!
Comments
fun!
Sounds like a fun trip! I love Murphys and agree that it certainly rivals Guinness. I can't wait for Roberto to get a chance to try it someday!
Investigating lateral meristem
I found that cork is the outer bark of an evergreen type of oak tree called the cork oak (species Quercus suber) that is native to the Mediterranean region.
I can't find any reference to the cork oak growing in Ireland yet...