Cobh (pronounced “Cove”) is a charming seaside town, dominated by a giant cathedral up on a hill behind the downtown area. The hill gives it the sense of being even grander than it is in real life and it looks like something straight out of an evil movie. The cathedral scared the heck out of me the first night we were here and I looked up after coming out of the pizzeria.
It is only marginally less terrifying in the daylight and still extremely imposing.
We spent a lazy Tuesday exploring Cobh before heading into Cork for food and souvenir shopping (and to be the boss of that parking ramp that I previously really struggled to drive to, take that, Cork).
Before Ireland won its independence from England, Cobh was called Queenstown. It was the Titanic’s last port of call on Europe before it left for the north Atlantic (please get my post title joke). They have turned the White Star Line ticket office into a nice memorial museum, which put a human face on the impact the tragedy had upon Irish communities and families. It was touching tribute to the local lives lost.
My third-class passenger – she was not a survivor 
The third class bunks 
A first class cabin 
Heartbreak pier, where many people left Ireland to seek better fortunes abroad, including those who left on the Titanic
After our Titanic exhibition, we returned to Cork to explore some of the markets. This time, I avoided driving through the city center and didn’t have to take a circuitous route to my destination. Great success. I win at driving officially.
Very wet building 
Near the English market 
English market
Our Wednesday adventure was horseback riding in Killarney! Killarney borders a national park of the same name, amongst the Irish mountains.
We were going to take the scenic route there, north through parts of the Ring of Kerry and the Gap of Dunloe.
The book likes the Gap of Dunloe for its scenery and tranquility. It does not recommend driving the Gap of Dunloe. Something about the roads being “narrow” and full of hikers or horse carts. Whatever, book. You’re not the boss of me. As the boss of driving, I drive where I want.
We turned off the Ring of Kerry at Moll’s Gap and a wool shop and somewhere near the start of the road to the Gap of Dunloe, we came across my absolute Favorite Road Sign Ever (photo credit to some random German blog, I was not clever enough to take a picture).
The LEAST alarming of any of those is “oncoming traffic in the middle of road” – that is like basically 50% of the roads here. We have to look out for drifting bicycles?! And there are so many hooved animals….
We carried onward, switchbacking up through hills, dodging sheep, and getting rained on occasionally. I was apparently going the “right” way because I was going opposite all of the horse-drawn carriages instead of being stuck behind them with no way to pass. We passed maybe 20 of them.
There were small pull-offs at the side of the road every few hundred yards or near large corners. It was slow going as we wound around the scenic vistas, with lakes, cliffs, sheepies, and valleys around every hairpin corner.
Up in the gap 
Give way to sheep 
Just your average 2-lane part of the road 
The rain cometh 
Winding road into the valley 
Nobody died, so I learned nothing from the first warning sign and we made it to the Killarney Riding Stables!
My horse for this ride was Joey. He had a mustache and cow spots. Our guide kept calling him Jo Jo and the most bizarre part of our adventure together was the red deer of the national park.
We mounted our docile steeds and clopped off into the national park. We were greeted by rolling prairie dotted with red deer. It’s rutting season. The males were extremely vocal and their cries were echoing around us as we trotted down the trail. The horses didn’t seemed fussed by the deer, and the deer didn’t mind us.
The first few seconds of this video is what they sound like – just imagine fifty of these echoing across the hillside and you have the first half hour of our horseback ride. The hillllls are aliiiiiiive with the sound of red deeeeer!
The park’s central lake is Loch Leane, which gets to be so deep swimming isn’t recommended because of the strong undercurrents. Its name means “learning lake,” after the monastery nearby which reportedly educated the great Irish king, Brian Boru.
In what is a historic first for me, I kept my very naughty horse from eating too many snacks! He only got some ferns and I went in 0 bushes. Aw yeah. This is probably a credit to my instructor, who actually taught us how to keep the horses from going into bushes.
Overlooking lough leane 
Neigh! 
Oh deer! 
Horse-fie
Miraculously we didn’t get rained on even once! What a day for Irish weather. We grabbed dinner in a nearby pub before heading back to our ABB for our final night being lazy in Cobh.
We took a different part of the Ring of Kerry on the way back. Parts of it were swervey and I felt a bit like an F1 driver since I’m now a driving speed demon like the rest of the Irish (and I really, really, really had to pee after my cider in the pub). Ladies view was a beautiful lookout!
Tomorrow, we’re off to Kinnitty in the midlands for a stay in Kinnitty Castle Hotel before we head home on Saturday.