Ireland in Pictures (Adventures in Cork)

My main focus will be on county Cork, more specifically Cork city in Ireland as it is where I live and as such naturally most of my Irish Photos and pictures will be from there.

When I moved to Ireland (or Irland as we call it in Denmark) a little over 3 and a half years ago, a lot of my friends were very excited on my behalf. We spoke about the beautiful nature and how amazing it would be to hang out in the traditional local Irish pubs.

After moving over here I have had to re-asses my impression of Ireland. While there is amazing nature sights, impressive rugged hills and happy hour, there is also other sides to the country. Sadly with the recession hitting Ireland quite hard one of the most obvious things I have noticed is the poverty and general worn state of many parts of the town I live in. Furthermore there are a lot of areas where stores has closed down, never to re-open leaving deserted buildings to dominate an entire street. With this blog I want to show pictures of the many different sides of Ireland, hopefully to give you, the reader, a more diverse impression of the country.

In closing I want to stress that Ireland is beautiful and the irish people is generally extremely friendly and welcoming. So don't let this blog make you think otherwise, the country is definitely worth visiting for a vacation trip.

The rainbow and the building style of the left hand building are both common sights in Ireland.

© Mistel

Many of these pictures are taken in Cork City as it is where I lead my daily life. It was suggested to me by Chispy that I do a small introduction to the city, so here we go

Cork is the second largest city in Ireland and is located in the southern part of the country in the county Cork.

A taxi driver in Cork once told me that the city is located at the site of an old monastery that was founded by Saint Finbarr and according to the travel guide I brought when I first went to Ireland (Eyewitness Travel - Ireland p.174), this is true.

My danish roots means I have to mention that the city, however, wasn’t really considered a proper settlement until the early 900 where Vikings founded a trading post in the area.

Cork is build on the River Lee, which divides to encompass the city centre. This makes city center pretty unique as it is located on a small island with the two river parts of the river cutting it off from the rest of the city.

The "must see" attractions in and around Cork city that you shouldn't miss when you visit are:

The English Marked

Blarney Castle

Ring of Kerry (The south western part of Ireland)

FOTA (A wildlife park outside of Cork)

Personally though I recommend spending at least a day or two, just exploring Cork city itself though. Due to the way it is build on the River Lee and how parts of it is climbing the hill sides it can be quite magical to walk through narrow streets and up climbing stairs around the different parts of town.

Some of the streets could almost give the steep hills of San Francisco a run for the money.

Approximate Google map coordinates: 51.900233,-8.470494

© Mistel

When the sky clears the light in Ireland is amazingly beautiful.

© Mistel

This Guinness brewery offers guided tours. I didn't attend one myself, but friends who did said it was well worth it for any beer enthusiast.

© Mistel

The Nature of Ireland truly is exceptional.

© Mistel

Chaplin frequently used Waterville in Ireland as his holiday destination. While there he would take walks or just go fishing to enjoy the splended nature of Ireland. This statue has been raised in Waterville to pay homage to the world famous actor, Charlie Chaplin and his love for the city.

© Mistel

It seems to be typically irish to paint houses in very bright colours, often some that doesn't match the neighbours house at all. This is not too bad, but I have seen some really funny colour combinations.

© Mistel

Something very typical for Ireland, there are churches everywhere.

This picture also shows a bit the roughness that comes out in parts of Cork City.

© Mistel

Almost same view as above, but this one is taken at night showing the lights from the many homes covering the hill side.

© Mistel

These apartments were finishined in the summer of 2008, just before the recession made the building boom collapse.

© Mistel

Normally groups of young people gathers outside the centre to hang out.

© Mistel

It rarely snows in Cork, this amount closed down the airports for a couple of days as they simply are not equipped to deal with harsher winter weather.

© Mistel

The election posters over here are pretty cool in my opinion. Where I come from they usually only show the head and shoulders of the candidate. Over here I have even seen full-body posters.

This picture also shows a bit of the run-down state of the street. The fence to the left has been there for a very long time now.

© Mistel

This house always makes me smile. It used to be a big grey blop of a building, but a couple of months ago it was coloured with paint donated by Dulux. It has brigthened up the street a lot.

© Mistel

As you can see the area desperately needs stuff like the Rainbow house. Watercourse Road is located in Blackpool which is one of the poorer areas of Cork. Many stores and houses lie empty like the two that features prominently here.

The photo also neatly captures the weather in November. Rainy and very windy!

© Mistel

Ireland is known for it's pubs and Cork is no different. The Bridge Inn is one of the many places where you can get a pint and I have heard good things about the Sunday bar lunch.

© Mistel

Cork City is beautiful by night and even Blackpool is a place well worth having a wander around in. However please take care and travel in groups as there has been multiple assaults and robberies in the Blackpool area recently.

© Mistel

The view from the Blackpool Shopping Center is quite stunning. It would be nice if you could magically remove the cars and the lampposts, however even with the interference it is quite the sight.

© Mistel

Does it really rain that much in Cork?

The short answer is yes. The weather in Ireland is very wet and windy. As you have probably noticed from my photos of Ireland there are many rainy or grey days over here, but it is not all bad. The rainy irish weather is one of the reasons why the island is so green, lush and fertile.

The combination of wind and rain creates quite a dilemma when you are going out, do you bring your umbrella and risk getting blown away by the brisk irish winds or do you brave the downpour without the protection of an umbrella.

A fun fact about the irish weather is that because of the low number of sunny days during the year many food types and even some brands of milk has added vitamin D. I am completely taken aback by the number of groceries you can buy that are vitamin enhanced here in Ireland.

There are some days where the irish sun comes out and those days the inhabitants of Ireland seem to really take advantage off. On clear days Cork is even more bustling with life.

© Mistel

Here you can see an example of both the colourful houses that the Cork population is very fond of, but also the rustic feel that runs through the city and bear witness to the era before the "modern" building boom.

© Mistel

Ireland is famous for its pub culture and everyone who knows just a bit about beer has heard about Guinness. In Most Irish pubs you can experience traditional Irish live music at least a couple of times per week.

© Mistel

Ireland's most important food export is butter and the city of Cork is no exception to this. In fact the Cork Butter Exchange was one of the largest butter markets in the world.

You can check out the Cork museum here if you are interested.

© Mistel

When you walk around Cork you will notice the many small alleyways and lanes that runs through the city. Some of them are not very pleasant and you should stay away from them especially after dark, however some of them like Widderling's Lane are very nice and gives a great view over the city.

© Mistel

The English Marked houses all sorts of fresh food stands. It is the place to go for fresh meat and vegetables all year round. The marked is covered so even with the Irish weather you will be able to have an enjoyable time shopping and looking around.

© Mistel

A quay (pronounced almost like "key) is a landing place for boats or a wharf. As Cork is build on a river, there are several streets named "something Quay" paying homage to the city's status as a waterway merchant down.

© Mistel

If you disregard the gloomy, rainy weather I hope you will agree that Fair Hill is living up to its name.

Should you ever find yourself in Cork, take a walk up Fair Hill to get a view of the entire city spread out beneath you. The view is even better when the sun is shining or when it is dark as you can then see the glittering warm light from all the many homes of Cork.

© Mistel

I love the light in this picture and the way the clouds came out. You can easily see two of Corks many church towers and the green hills surrounding the city.

© Mistel

Even Fair Hill has not gotten away completely untouched by the recession. This house has stood empty for quite some time leaving a tarnished spot on the otherwise beautiful street.

(If I had the money I would buy it and fix it up, the view from this house would be amazing as it is overseeing the entire city)

© Mistel

Here is a collection of links that will come in handy if you want to know more about Ireland.