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Scattered around Cork are various elements marking historical events throughout the ages. The juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary is one of the things I love most about living in Europe. Now centuries old pubs not only have historical stone and brickwork, but running water (hallelujah!) and wifi, as well. On Barrack Street in Cork you can find automobiles, neon pub signs, a garda station, and a centuries old star fort. …You know, just something you pass on your way to the grocery store.
Star fort or fire-breathing Lego turtle?
Not everyone who lives in the city remembers where Elizabeth Fort is. Even for folks in the neighborhood, it's hard to get a sense of the scale and shape of the thing when simply meandering past. This helpful panel inside the fort lays it out quite clearly: it's Gamera.
Continue reading “Fun photo essay: a visit to Elizabeth Fort” →
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Happy Paddy's Day to you! Hope yours was green, lively, safe, and fun. Here are a few – OK, a bunch of – snaps of the local goings on here in Cork, Ireland. Enjoy!
Part 1: Before the Madness
Play "Call to the Dairy Cows" from the William Tell Overture, or maybe Edvard Grieg's "Morning" to get a sense of the lovely idyll that is Sunday Morning in Cork. People are either at church or sleeping off the bender from the night before, and the streets are gloriously empty…
You can almost hear the birdies chirping…
Continue reading “Photo Essay: St. Patrick’s Day in Cork” →
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Today's post was written by my friend and fellow expat, Emily Davis-Fletcher. She writes a lot of great poetry and fiction. She also has a sly sense of humor, hidden beneath a friendly and innocent-seeming smile. (Shhh!)
I love Charles Fort. If Charles Fort were a man and not a 17th century coastal ruin, I’d marry him. Stunning in any weather—dark and mysterious under threatening skies that shower you with misty kisses or charming and gracious in full sun with a generous world view, heaping a sea of diamonds upon you. Charles Fort has something special to offer every romantic soul.
Dynamic and complex as any Irish man (without the mammy) – rough and rugged as one of the largest star-shaped military forts in the country with a roguish flare for drama, showing off in front of brazen cliffs and plunging sea line. But Charles Fort is no bully or macho man. In fact, its tender side is its most striking. Low to the ground, it seems to crouch, enveloped by soft, thick grass sprinkled with white and lavender flowers like a plush blanket laid out for you to walk or lie on.
Continue reading “Romancing the Stones of Charles Fort” →
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Behold, my friends, the spring is come;
the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun,
and we shall soon see the results of their love!
~ Sitting Bull
Sproi-oi-oi-oi-oing!
By Irish reckoning, Spring begins on the first of February. Having grown up in Southern California, it took me a while to get my head around the idea of 4 separate seasons. (And no, it was not just sunshine all the time; it was more like "deathly hot / wildfire" season vs. "downpour / mudslide" season.) After moving to Washington state, I finally started to get a sense of how solstices and equinoxes marked separate parts of the yearly cycle. Discovering that Ireland, where a lot of this pagan-ish, solstice-y stuff was said to originate, was on a different schedule is something to which I am still adjusting.
Continue reading “Ireland: Signs of Spring” →
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Despite this being my third Christmas since moving to Ireland, it is the first I have spent in the company of Irish friends. The first year was spent with the ex, another expatriate like me, while the second was spent back in Italy with the former in-laws. This year was shaping up to be most educational!
And here I thought it was just Americans who liked these little guys.
Continue reading “Irish Christmas” →
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You can't turn around in Ireland without bumping into history. Sometimes it's stuff that is brand new to the listener and has no emotional "hook", as it were. Other times, it involves well known characters about whom you may already know a fair bit. When the latter happens, it can be like receiving an autographed painting direct from a favorite artist: you thought you knew it all, but here, in living color, is another piece of the mystery! And it's all for YOU!
I won't say I knew everything there is to know about Sir Walter Raleigh, but having visited Virginia and the Carolinas, and having worked at the Renaissance Faire, I felt confident that I knew a bit more than your average Yank. Or at least felt a glimmer of personal connection.
Wait – could I be thinking of Sir Francis Drake instead? Uhh… Probably best not to think about it. Just sit back and enjoy the moment, right? Right! (ps: the chip butties are at the very end of the post, so you'll have to stick around for the full range of naughtiness ;)
First stop: a watchtower to get a good view of the town.
Continue reading “Chip Butties and Other Naughty Bits” →
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It's hard to pick out just one thing about Cork that makes this little Irish city so wonderful. There is music, art, wonderful food, history, and plenty of friendly people. Removing any of those elements would change the character of the place, but probably nothing would affect it so much as the one thing I am coming to realize I love above all else: the river.
Reflectively… ("Reflective Lee"). Ahem. Sorry.
When walking back to my flat for tea with a friend one afternoon, he suggested we turn early rather than continue on our path. "But why?" I asked. "It's faster this way." "But we'll just be walking along some side street, not the river!" Maybe it doesn't mean as much to him, seeing how he is Corkonian, but to me, any chance to spend time next to the water is not to be wasted. You never know when a random wildlife spotting opportunity may arise!
Continue reading “The River Wild-lee (the River Lee!)” →
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