Dennis Deery

We had our first visitor from the States the last few days. Our friend Bruce found his way from Seattle for a short visit. Last Saturday we headed down the Cork area to visit a couple of small towns, Cobh and Kinsale.

Cobh’s claim to fame is being the last port visited by Titanic on her first and final voyage. It’s still a maritime port today. We were dogged by rain and fog while visiting Cobh, but still had time to check out the incredible St. Colman’s Cathedral.

After a short visit to Cobh, we headed down the road to Kinsale. Kinsale reminded me a lot of Stillwater, Minnesota and Galena, Illinois. It was really packed with people visiting for the weekend, clearly one of the biggest getaway towns near the big city of Cork. It’s a beautiful little town filled with all kinds of shops, restaurants and pubs, which filled most of our afternoon. With the weather closing in again, we headed to Charles Fort, which guards the harbor entrance to Kinsale. This fort was the site of the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. This was the final major battle in England’s conquest of Ireland, and so is a very important historical site in the country.