Allans Abroad: going off-book on the way to Cork

the view from my window this morning ... ummm ... not so much

let's try the view from the breakfast room

The bones of this castle are still very visible, unlike The Fitzpatrick, where modernity had encroached a bit more thoroughly. After brekki we roamed the castle inside and out.

come with me and I'll take you with us as we explore from the front door.

up the stairs

along a hallway, look how thick the walls are

If we kneel on the seat and look to the right we can see our room

back to the entrance hall

let's warm up a bit, they've only just lit the fire in a fireplace that could accommodate a family of four.

and now we've warmed up a bit we can stroll around the grounds

It's very quiet, except for the crunching of our feet on the gravel and a few birds welcoming the day. This is because we're on an island, there's no cars moving about and few people have braved the cold morning air with us.

It's a lovely +2.5°, the air is cool and crisp and we can see our breath.

sadly it's time to go so we'll catch that little ferry

But wait ... there's an Aussie flag, and instructions so it seems that Aussies must await the ferry thus ...

From Waterford were heading in a direct line to Cork until we saw an interesting looking sign, which we followed and therefore our plans changed on a whim but we did get to see some beautiful countryside, find a very nice hotel hugging onto a cliff face that served us a very delicious cake lunch. this is the coastline around about Ardmore.

This is the view from The Cliffhouse hotel, we have noted this spot for our return journey for I feel we will be coming back to this beautiful country for a much longer stay.

gratuitous cake lunch pic

We found a ruined church, St Declan's, and wandered around for a bit.

there's lots of these round towers in Ireland, this one in the church grounds is 12th century. They were places of refuge in case of attack, although that doorway is four feet off the ground so not entirely efficient protective capabilities here.

Gratuitous arty pic

MGM keeps us on track time-wise though and we got back on the road

To Cork, where this day of sightseeing continued until we dropped.

St Fin Barre's Cathedral

The not so impressive 'labyrinth' in the grounds. It's meant for strolling around in quiet contemplation or prayer but I'll admit I had and entirely different picture in my mind when I planned a visit to the St Fin Barre's labyrinth because I did not do my research thoroughly.

Views of Cork from Elizabeth Fort

Elizabeth Fort

A 17th-century star shaped fort originally built of course, to defend the city. The city quickly outgrew the old walls that the fort was part of so now it is an extremely interesting anomaly. The walls rise up amongst the shops etc. makes it hard to get a good photo of the exterior.