Cobh, Cork, Blarney Castle, Kinsale (Ireland)

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Today the ship docked in Cobh, Ireland. This town has several claims to fame. They used to be a sending off port for those being deported to penal colonies such as Australia. This port was also the departure point for 2.5 million of the 6 million Irish people who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950. More famously, this was the spot where the Titanic picked up its final passengers. 123 passengers boarded here in all; only 44 of those survived the sinking. For those who are wondering why you don't recognize the name “Cobh,” that's because it used to be called Queenstown.

Imagecredit:http://www.maritimequest.com/liners/titanic/photos/ship/21_titanic.jpg

The ship offered a full day tour that we liked, but Frankie found the same tour with another company for $200 less, yeah.

First stop, Blarney Castle! The site dates back to before 1200, with a wooden house. It was replaced by a stone fortification but destroyed in 1446. In 1446, the third castle was built by Dermot McCarthy, King of Munster. In 1586, Queen Elizabeth I ordered The Earl of Leicester to take possession of the castle. The McCarthy clan always found ways to delay negotiations, for example throwing a banquet. Progress reports to the queen were long letters full of excuses, and the castle remained untaken.  In her irritation, the queen declared the reports to be full of “blarney”. 

Imagecredit:http://f.tqn.com/y/goireland/1/W/0/P/-/-/elizabeth-i-blarney.png

The castle has changed hands several times. In 2008, the present estate owner had to go to court to eject a man who had lived on the property for 44 years.

Imagecredit:http://media.irishcentral.com/images/swf+blarney+castle.jpg

The castle is now a partial ruin.  Of course, the most famous part of Blarney Castle is the Blarney Stone. Kissing it is supposed to bring eloquence. Here is the legend: The builder of Blarney Castle was facing a lawsuit, and asked the goddess Cliodhna for help. She told him to kiss the first stone he saw on his way to court. He did, and won his court case with great eloquence. So the owner added the stone as part of the parapet of his castle.

Imagecredit:https://underaglassmoondotorg.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/kiss-the-blarney-stone-coloring-page.jpg

Kissing the stone is not easy. First, you have to climb 127 steps to the top of the castle. Then the lineup. When it's your turn, you have to lay on your back and lean way out over empty space to kiss the stone. They have added railings for you to hold onto, and someone is paid to hold each tourist. Before the railings, they would just grab your boots and dangle you over. Sherlock Holmes solved a case of murder here, deeming the boots to have been greased.

To kiss or not to kiss??? The question kind of answered itself when we got into line and found out it was a one hour wait. Since we only had 2 hours total, we decided we'd rather spend time exploring the rest of the extensive property.

We started with the Poison Garden which contains all poisonous plants (and cannabis). 

Then we found a really nice large rock garden area, with natural rock formations called Druid's Circle, Witch's Cave, and the Wishing Steps.

These are three of the Seven Sisters:

The trees all had knitted socks around them:

The bus was 15 minutes leaving Blarney.  Then when we were 10 minutes out, the guide told us that 2 people had been left behind and we had to go back to get them. Hello!?!? All kinds of stupidity there, first by people who can't catch a bus that is 15 minutes late, and secondly by a guide that doesn't know how many people he is responsible for.....  

After Blarney, we had a driving tour through the city of Cork. 

We looked out over the waters where the Lusitania was sunk on its 202^nd sailing on May 7, 1915. The mighty passenger ship was running parallel to the south coast of Ireland and was roughly 13 km away from Kinsale, when it crossed paths with a German U-boat, who fired one torpedo. Because of the severe list of the ship, only 6 of the 48 lifeboats were launched successfully. The ship sank in 18 minutes, and 1,198 of the 1,962 passengers and crew lost their lives, most of whom were British or Canadian. Even though only 128 Americans were killed, the sinking of the Lusitania was instrumental in convincing the Americans to join the war.

 

Imagecredit:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-61-17,_Untergang_der_%22Lusitania%22.jpg

The Germans felt that they had been justified in firing because the Lusitania was listed as an auxiliary war ship and was carrying ammunitions and military cargo. The German Embassy had even issued a warning before the ship sailed on this voyage. The British government has always maintained that there were no munitions on board. However, in 1982 they did warn divers (that were going down to the wreck) of a large amount of “ammunition” on board, some of which was “highly dangerous”.

Imagecredit:http://www.lusitania.net/lastrestingplace_htm_files/Lucy%202008%20-%20bullets.jpg

We were supposed to get 2 hours to explore the town of Kinsale, but ended up only having one hour there.  Kinsale was the town that was used for the rescue operation of the Lusitania, and some of the victims are buried here.

Chairmans Lane runs downhill towards the harbour and leads to the center of town. The lane has pretty cottages all attached to each other, with names such as Giants Cottage and MansionHouse.

 

St Multose Church dates back to 1190 and is the oldest building in Kinsale. It has a walled churchyard with ancient tombstones.

The final part of our tour was back in Cobh so we could be close to our ship. The Old Church Cemetery contains mass graves for the remains of 193 of the Lusitania victims.

 

Imagecredit:http://www.irishexaminer.com/remote/media.central.ie/media/images/z/zzzLusitaniaTommyBarkerP4A_large.jpg?width=648&s=ie-328221

We had a stop at St Colman's Catholic Cathedral.  It was begun in 1868 and took 47 years to complete. 

Here is the floor in the cathedral.  Very Irish:

Even though we were late going to supper back on the ship, we still got our window seat and still made it in time for the evening magician show.  He was a semi-fnalist on Spain's Got Talent.