Trips
Sat., 8/17 - At Sea
Another typical day at sea, lectures, tours, crafts, etc.
Sun., 8/18 - Cobh (pronounced Cove), Republic of Ireland
The town of Cobh is the port town for Cork, Ireland. Cobh was the last port of call for the Titanic. 125 passengers got on here. Half did not survive.
Today was a beautiful sunny, breezy day - about 60°. Instead of going to Cork, we walked around Cobh. Our ship docked at the Heritage Center, with the statue of Annie Moore and her two brothers. She was the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island in New York. As we walked along, we were entertained by four men singing Irish ballads in harmony from the gazebo at the harbor park. There was a festive atmosphere with kiddy rides and kiosks selling cotton candy, donuts, etc. Lots of local families out for a sunny Sunday. Many of them came on the two-car local train from Cork.
We walked up to St. Colman's Cathedral. The streets were lined with colorful three and four story row houses. Cars parked on one side of the very narrow two-way street, making it a one lane path for cars going both ways - just like we navigated with Marge driving in Wales. If you drive in the direction of the parked cars you have to give way to the car coming at you. This often means backing up or pulling in on the sidewalk.
The cathedral was a typical elegant church with a huge organ.
Flag of the Republic of Ireland
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Cork is inland |
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Annie Moore and her two brothers. She was the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island in New York
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Typical Irish Pub |
Street Scene |
St. Colman's Cathedral
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Gothic architecture
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Fancy ironwork
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Interior |
Organ |
Organ pipes
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Rose window
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More walking, a mile or so, took us down to the Titanic Memorial Garden. It was a cement expanse with the “Titanic 1912” written in bushes along the harbor side. Not impressive. |
Row of Victorian houses |
Row houses
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Narrow streets and row houses
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Sign says "No Junk Mail" - wonder if it works?
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A "beach"
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Titanic Memorial Garden - from the ship
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The return walk took us back through the town and festival. This time a group of mostly women were strumming “Ukuleles” and singing.
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Monument to Sonia O'Sullivan is an Irish former track and field athlete. She won a gold medal in the 5000 metres at the 1995 World Championships, and a silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 2000 Olympic Games. Her 2000m world record of 5:25.36, set in 1994 stood until 2017.
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Butterfly and flowers |
Gazebo in the Park
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This is a round-about - In Wales Marge drove straight through one because it didn't have a physical structure to mark it. |
Cobh Museum (former church)
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There was a nice lighthouse at the end of the harbor with WW2 gun turrets. On the low hills behind it was a cattle ranch, a dairy farm, and harvested fields. It was another pretty sail away.
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Pilot boat
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Houses |
Waterfront park
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Pretty row houses |
Spike Island |
Farmland
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Power plant |
Lighthouse
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Light house and WWII gun emplacements |
Exciting life of a pilot - getting off the ship!
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Almost there
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Safely off the big and onto the small |
Mon., 8/19 - Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Since this was at least our third trip to Dublin, we chose to walk into town. The HAL port shuttle left us with no directions and a 40 min. walk to the River Liffey. It was a nice day for a walk. After finding the Liffey, we walked along the river promenade past the Convention Center, Samuel Beckett cable stayed bridge, the Jeanie Johnston tall ship and museum, and the statues to the potato famine. After crossing the river at the old Customs House we entered the pedestrian and street traffic to the Trinity college entrance where we walked into the quad, saw the line to see the Book of Kells (been there, done that), and used the bathroom at the college snack center. We debated having lunch and a Guinness in the city but it was so very crowded it would have taken at least two hours.
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Samuel Beckett cable stayed bridge |
Samuel Beckett cable stayed bridge
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Dublin Convention Center
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Mechanism for an old draw bridge |
Memorial to the Potato Famine
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Dublin traffic |
The tourist information center told us how to take the public bus or tram back to the port. After walking across O’Connell St. and over the river to Abby Street, we found the Red Line tram. Two tickets to “The Point” were procured from the machine (2.80 Euros each) and we had a lovely ride along a different route from our walk. From the tram stop it was then an easy walk back to the Port entrance (one mile) and the shuttle bus back to the ship.
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Lovely Tram
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It was interesting watching the activity in the port from our cabin on Deck 8. The cranes, gantries, lifts, and trucks moved containers around and loaded a ship next to us. It is no wonder we could not walk around in the port.