There is an eerie dawn out there today – beautiful – but eerie. The moon is just setting as we sail into Cobh, and a fog is rolling in, casting everything in this blanket of grey. Makes for good mysterious pictures, but we are hoping for it to burn off so we have some sunshine to take away the chill. It remains puffy coat weather, which we are hoping to shed soon for at least lighter jackets.

Our original plans were to take an NCL on our own tour of Cork because we have a lot of cabin credit, but then we came to our senses and decided to just take the train. Cheaper, quicker, on our own timeframe and no sitting on a bus with all these people. I mean, what were we thinking anyway? 2nd off the ship. Easy and quick walk around the port to the train station. Tickets purchased at the self-service machine (again though, with railway people there to help if need be). And, because we arrived early, were happily seated on the 8:30 train which put us into Cork before 9. Perfect! 

Today is another Gaol tour day, but, as usual, we are far too early for the opening hours, even if it is a half an hour plus walk there. Meaning, it is time for a cappuccino! A little coffee shop called 5 Points beckons, and we fortify ourselves with caffeine before heading out into the cold still somewhat foggy morning for our walk through to the Cork City Gaol at the other end of town. The walk takes us along the river Lee and then turns uphill on narrow one way streets. We pass by St. Vincent’s Church which sits stoically alongside the road, with the really creepy priest statue in the car park. He’s glowering down on us, pointing at something, and even though we’re pretty sure it is just rust on his forehead, it looks like he’s been beaten and bleeding from his head. In the fog. Eek.

Pressing on, we reach the Gaol right after opening time, entering through the hulking gate building and walking up into the lush green Governor’s gardens that surround the Gaol. Now this place looks like an old Victorian era gaol. It is huge and sturdily built, but so obviously old and out dated. Not like the Gaol in Belfast which seemed almost modern. Even here in the gardens, the building just towers over you, almost threateningly. Gorgeous stone and an excellent example of 19th Century Cork architecture, it was built in 1824 and used as a gaol until 1923.

Inside the gaol, we are greeted by the Governor in his office, as well as Mary Sullivan, a prisoner waiting to see the Governor. All throughout this tour, there are life-size mannequins depicting prisoners or warders or some sort of daily life scene from the prison. There are also holograms and other fabulous multi-media presentations. And everywhere are detailed explanations of who the prisoners were, why they are in prison as well as discussion about the draconian laws that imprisoned children as young as 10 for stealing, and then flogged them 2x a week!

There is a cell we can “try out” – which of course we do! And original graffiti that has been preserved from prisoners during the Irish Civil War. As we climb to the 2nd floor, we can look out the windows and see the exercise yard where prisoners walked around the designated circle in single file so they couldn’t talk. There is a room explaining all the different punishments meted out; oakum picking (a short of endless unraveling of oakum ropes that left your hands bloody and raw), the treadwheel (literally a human-size hamster wheel only with heavy weights to make it harder), of course solitary confinement and whipping, but also clothes confiscation (if a prisoner tried to escape, their clothes were taken from them to deter further attempts)! Plus there is a great model of the entire prison providing a perspective on how large the entire complex is.

Upstairs there is a radio museum, which showcases all the old equipment from the 1920’s when Radio Eireann began broadcasting in the main building after the Gaol closed. The radio station remained for about 30 years, then the building was used by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs as a training school. From the radio museum, we follow the winding staircase down and out onto the Gaol walkway, which runs all the way around the buidlings. Out here we are treated to the sight of the ruins of the Kitchen and teh hospital buildings, all falling down with various plants and creatures living inside. There is also the debtor’s Gaol, a completely separate building just for those who couldn’t repay their debts.

What a great, if not macabre, visit. This is probably the best gaol museum yet. Beautifully restored with accuracy, great presentations and really fascinating stories. Now we’re off onto the streets of Cork, crossing over the totally cool Daly’s Bridge, otherwise known as The Shakey Bridge, because, yep, it definitely shakes when you walk across and into Fitzgerald park, a lovely green space filled with walking trails along the river.

Inside the park there is the small Cork Public museum, which was a little underwhelming, but fortunately free. The history of Cork was nothing to report about, but there was a fascinating exhibit on the IRA which detailed the deaths of the 2 mayors during the beginning of the oppression and uprisings. And a really fun little exhibit on Travelers (who we would refer to as Gypsies) and their lifestyle. Not a total loss.

Exiting the museum and the park, we walk the leafy streets along the river until we reach the CBD where tree cover morphs into tall city buildings lining the roads and traffic – both pedestrian and vehicular – begins to pick up. After a few moments of directional confusion, we find our way into the English Market, a huge fresh food with everything you can imagine from produce to meat to seafood. We wander around a bit, looking at all the incredible food we couldn’t buy, and at surprisingly really good prices too! We think about grabbing a sandwich or meat from a counter, then finding someplace to eat, but stumble upon the Farmgate Cafe on the balcony overlooking the market. Lucking into 2 open seats at the counter running all around the market, we tuck into an excellent open faced chicken salad sandwich and seafood chowder. Great food and people watching opportunities all in one. Our kind of lunch place.

Our last stop today is, are you ready? The Butter Museum. Yep!  We do find the weirdest museums! It’s a knack, really. But honestly, after a while how much art do you want to look at? And most of the weirdest ones actually give you a better insight into the city/area/country.  So off we go, across the river once again and up the steep hillsides to the Shandon area for the museum. At least the walk is very photogenic with great murals, street art and views up to St. Anne’s church where the Shandon bells are located These are the bells that anyone can ring in celebration or memory of someone, or just for the heck of it! We rang them years ago for a friend’s birthday. Needless to say, they ring pretty much incessantly all day long!

So, back to butter. Who knew it could be so fascinating? And how Ireland, the government, really developed the industry, created the Kerry gold brand and promoted and distributed it across the world. So interesting. The process, the farms, the cows all grass fed, the marketing, the distribution,  how joining the EU Kickstarted the whole thing. For some unknown reason we didn’t take any pictures – but we found everything to be educational and quite fun. Now we just have to buy some Kerry Gold butter when we get home to “taste the difference.”  

Fortunately, we are now on the same side of the river as the train station, which is an easy walk downhill. Trains run so frequently, there is one waiting when we arrive at the station. Perfect timing. We’re back to Cobh in no time. As we’ve been here a few times, there is no need to explore the town, so we just return to the ship for our evening rituals – along with taking some great cityscapes as we sail out of the harbor.

Finally reaching the end of the bay with more beautiful, now country scenes.

Then it is onto our evening. Tonight we have reservations at Moderno, where we have learned to eat a lot of salad then be really choosy about the meats we order. We don’t have Vincent, our sweet waiter from the first night, but will definitely be asking for him again. He’s a riot and talks a storm. Plus he likes to laugh at how we eat. Might as well give him some humor!

Then it is off to Bliss for some music and to the balcony and to bed.