The Day We Got Some Irish ‘Cultcha’

 Today was declared a rest day, set aside for reorganising and packing our gear in readiness for our forthcoming exploration of the Dingle Way. 

The lure of the sunshine was too great though, and once my packing was done, Wallsy and I set out for a mid-morning walk along the River Lee. We found a ‘grand’ (that’s me slipping in a bit of the Irish lingo) walking path,  and sipped a very nice flat white from a nearby coffee van along the way. 

We went as far as Lee Park, sharing the path with runners, walkers, cyclists, and prams. We even spied an elderly man donning his bathers and hopping into the Lee for a dip. I’m sure the water was cold, but I wasn’t going to dip a toe in to find out. 

As we walked we got a great view of the building complex our apartment is in, on the hill overlooking the river. Built between 1847 and 1852, it operated as the Eglinton Lunatic Asylum and features one of the longest building facades in Ireland, spanning a distance of almost 1,000 feet (305m). It was built to accommodate 500 patients, only closing its doors in 1992. By the late 90s parts of the complex were transformed into residential apartments and it became know as Atkins Hall. It’s a very imposing building. 

Following our walk we returned for lunch and Wallsy went about his packing. Once everyone was packed, we walked down to catch a bus into town. It’s about an 18 minute walk to the stop, and a 10 minute ride into town. We are becoming quite good at navigating the public transport system here. 

The centre of the city was crazy busy when we arrived at 5pm. There was a concert in town by some American country music star who apparently has a big following of young people and the streets were full of people wearing cowboy boots and hats! 

It was also the final night of the Cork Midsummer Festival which had been going on for the past ten days. We were booked to go to the Solstice Ceili in the grounds of Elizabeth Fort, but before that we needed to find dinner. 

We headed up Oliver Plunkett street with what seemed like hundreds of other people, and found an Italian Ristorante down a pleasant laneway with street umbrellas and colourful bunting, slightly removed from the crowd. The waiter told us we could have a table for 4 if we came back in an hour, at 6:30. Pleased with that, we thought we would go and find a pre-dinner drink, but that proved more difficult than finding dinner. Every hotel was packed, and people spilled into the street from bars and cafes alike. 

We finally found a small cafe with a free table out the front, and settled for iced lattes and the like before wandering around the block and back to our dinner venue where we had a delicious meal. Back out the door, there was some debate around the direction of Elizabeth Fort, but we eventually got our bearings and headed off over the river and up the hill. As the doors weren’t yet open, we wandered a little further up the hill and into a small pub where we could hear the sounds of some lively Irish music. 

Finally, we had found the real McCoy: a young woman playing fiddle, a guy on the accordion and another on guitar. They were great, so we bought a round of drinks and settled in to enjoy some true Irish culture. We found out they had never played together before, and it was an impromptu performance, but they were great. When they discovered we were from Castlemaine, they even played us a special rendition of Wild Colonial Boy. This was one of those accidental gems that turned out to be a real highlight. 

Then it was on to the Ceili in the Fort. This proved to be not quite what we were expecting, with quite a bit of explorative dance and movement, and less of the traditional music and movement we had anticipated, but it was an interesting experience. The fire twirling was great, and Mark and Julie got up and jigging before the night was out. And back in the main street Wallsy found a statue of one of his relatives!  It’s been quite the day.