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Day 6 Itinerary
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- Kinsale
- Cobh
- Cork
- Blarney
Day 6 Impressions
Kinsale Town - Reagan
This whole island is basically lousy with history - something important seems to have happened on every square inch of ground here. It's a little overwhelming, but sometimes there are moments where it crystallizes.
As we were writing some postcards today, we started to talk with Tom, the proprietor of the B&B we were staying at. He pointed out the high wall just behind his house, telling us it was the old Kinsale Town wall, the very same wall that James the Second left from when he fled to France in the late 1600's. That's a story I've heard many times, in songs, books, and oral history, so I needed a closer look.
Jen and I climbed the stairs, stopping briefly at a B&B that was just below the wall, but there was no good access. We climbed up to the street above, and over Jen's vociferous objections, I began to look for a way back to the wall. There were several houses that looked empty, but their backyards ended in a fence before the wall. Finally, the very last house on the street had a clear path all the way back. Reluctantly, Jen followed me into the back yard past the house and too my picture standing on the wall. As we got ready to swap and take her picture an old man appeared.
"What're ya taking pictures of?" he asked. I told him, and the then asked me why we hadn't knocked to ask permission. I told him, mostly truthfully, that we had thought there was no one home from whom to ask permission. I apologized and he softened a little, asking "Would ya do that in America?" Hedging, I said that it would depend, but generally no, I would not. "You're in Paddy's land, now", he said.
He asked why we wanted pictures of the wall, and I told him we'd heard that this was the old Kinsale city wall that James the second had left from. "City?" he asked. "Well, town" I replied. "Aye", he said with a sparkle in his eye, "you're amateurs at this." After apologizing again, we left, but we had the picture we wanted, and a great story to boot.
Cobh - Mike
The National Heritage Center in Cobh is a chilling experience. Seeing the conditions under which emigrants traveled to find a better life and the numbers that did so touch the very core of your soul. It is not even possible for us to understand what would make someone choose to do such a thing. But intellectually, I know that it was in many cases leave or die from starvation. A very sad and disturbing chapter in Irish history.Cobh - Shayla
We went to the Cobh Heritage Center. We walked through and learned about the famine, the prison boats, and the Titanic. We learned about the famine and how it ripped through Ireland. The famine caused masses of people to immigrate to America in hopes of a better life. We also learned about the prison boats that took Irish prisoners from the jails in Ireland to place like Australia to work. These boats usually carried between 200 and 400 passengers although sometimes it was more. These boats were not pleasent to be on because conditions we bad and there was overcrowding. We also got to see the effect that the Titanic had on Ireland. We got to see the names of all the Irish passengers on the boat and the ones who dies in the accident were marked with crosses. We got to see some Titanic memorabilia. The center was really facinating and reading about the history was really interesting. Reading about the mass confusi on that the famine causes was just unreal.Day 6 Photos
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