We had a great time today!
Breakfast was at 8:00. It told the woman that I only wanted one piece of bacon. I had experienced Irish bacon before, and thought that it would be moderately gross, and not at all like real bacon. When the host brought the plates, he said the pieces were small, so he gave me two instead - and it was the best Irish bacon I had ever had! Then I wished I had had three. Chad wouldn't try the bacon or the brown bread. I can't say much about the bread, but that bacon was wonderful!
Then we were off to Cobh, following the directions we were given about how to get around Cork. We got slightly turned around a time or two, and stopped at a gas station to see if we were going right. We were, as it turned out, but the guy basically bawled Chad out for not getting directions before we started (which we had). But after the mini-lecture, he came back to the car with a nicely drawn map, so the stop was helpful. Chad was ticked off, though.
It was a short drive and a gorgeous day - sunny and cool. Cobh is actually on an island, and the area approaching it is marshland. There is a wildlife park there (Fota), but it's not open at this time of year. We drove into town past the magnificent cathedral, then snaked our way down to the waterfront. We stopped at a little park from which you could see the last mooring place of the Titanic, then went back up toward the town center to find the Heritage Center. We parked as soon as we found a spot, then walked a few blocks along the waterfront. We could have parked closer, as it turned out, but the place I found was free for two hours. The walk was nice, anyway. There was pretty little park called Kennedy Park which overlooked the water. The Heritage Center itself is in the old train station. Besides the main attraction, an interesting little museum called "The Queenstown Story", there were a couple of little shops and a restaurant, with tables in the skylit waiting area.
The museum was really interesting. It told all about Cobh's sailing history, beginning with prison ships being sent to Australia and people emigrating to escape the Famine, and its history as a base for cruise ships. Cobh was the last port of call for the Titanic, and there was a section dedicated to that, too. The Lusitania was sunk not far from Cobh, also. After the museum, we were off to Midleton and the Jameson Distillery. We got to Midleton easily but somehow missed the turn into the place, and had to go back (don't know how that happened). By the time we got there, the next tour was not for almost two hours. It included a whiskey tasting at the end, which wouldn't have been that great an idea with so much driving yet to do, and it cost 8.50 euro, so we just decided to look around the museum displays. With nothing left to do in Midleton, we headed north hoping to get to Doolin tonight. We got a little bit turned around (are you sensing a theme here?) in Limerick, and it was slow going because of traffic. We stopped at a McDonald's to catch our breath before facing the traffic again. Sign at Limerick McDonald's: "The Quarter Pounder - it's no big girl's blouse". What does that mean!?!?
It seemed like a long haul out to Ennis and Ennistymon. I stopped for gas in Ennistymon and was going to start calling B&Bs, but the phone box was several blocks away and I didn't want to look for it. So we just kept driving until we got to Lahinch. When we got there, we started checking the B&B book to find one open all year, but before we could find a phone, we found the B&B! It overlooks the water and there was a gorgeous sunset. That's all that's gorgeous about this place, though. The room is absolutely plain, painted a faint yellow everywhere - walls, closet, nightstands, shelf. There is a sprig of some sort of curly reed stuff in a vase on one nightstand, and a mirror on the wall. That's it. Small bathroom with a corner shower. The end. Even the bedding is pale yellow/gold. There is no TV in the room, no tea/coffee facilities (both are in a lounge down the hall). Ah well, it's only one night.
We walked down to town to find a place for dinner. We found a cute little place called The Corner Stone - pub in the front, restaurant in the back. The food was excellent. Chad had beef stew, and I had pan-fried peppered chicken with a really yummy peppery gravy. It came with one of those salads with the funky greens and a huge plate of french fries. Absolutely fantastic meal!
Interesting note: we had originally chosen The Corner Stone because we saw a sign that said "music nightly". We ate fairly late, hung around, had coffee - and no music. Chad eventually went outside to reread the sign, but could find no mention of music anywhere. I knew I had seen it, too, so we were mystified.
Walking back, with no streetlights to get in the way, we had a completely clear view of the winter night sky, and more stars than I had ever seen before in my life. It was absolutely breathtaking! The longer we looked, the more layers of fainter stars we could see. If it hadn't been so cold by then, I would have been tempted to lie in the grass and just stare up for awhile, the silence broken only by the sound of the water. You could never do that in a different part of the year. I imagine that there would be too many people, and too many cars.
Now we are back, just waiting for bedtime. The plan for tomorrow: breakfast, then leave the car here and walk down to town or to the beach to take pictures, then we'll take the coast road to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Not sure what we are doing after that, but it doesn't look like we will get to Connemara at all. Hmm, maybe we can. Looking at the map, we could do the Cliffs and Burren in the morning, skip Galway Crystal, and head out to Clifden. Then we could come back toward Shannon on Thursday morning, and be at Bunratty by Thursday afternoon. We'll see how far we get, I guess.
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