Day 13 April 1st Cobh & Cork

We had a smooth overnight passage round the Irish coast to Cobh.  This was the last port from which the Titanic sailed and we hoped that wasn’t an omen.  As we breakfasted we could see we were alongside the quay and just across from the quay was the railway 

quay rest shelter

station.  There was a container on the quay and we observed that one of those might be useful on St Martin’s whilst waiting for the freight launch.  We had decided not to go on an excursion but to take the train to Cork which took about 25 minutes.  We had done a little research and knew where we wanted to head to.  The train journey was quite scenic with us stopping at various small towns. 

We made the short walk from the station going over the 

English Market

River Lee to the shopping centre

fish stall in market

 and had to have a short look in Marks & Spencer.  We carried on along St Patrick’s St (the main shopping street) until we reached the English Market.  This fresh produce market seemed to have everything that could have been produced or caught locally – fish, meat & vegetables – and other craft products.  We spent some time browsing the stalls wishing we could get some home and eventually decided to have coffee and cake.  After this we looked again before leaving.



St Fin Barre's Catthedral

Our next destination was the nearby

the cathedral altar

 Anglican St Fin Barre’s Cathedral (he’s the patron saint of Cork).  This had been rebuilt in the 1860s but was an inspiring structure.  We paid our entrance fee and were able to explore at our leisure. The organ pipes unusually were in a recess in the floor and so we could peer in at them.  We spent some time here before taking our leave in order to find our next place of 

the organ pipes

interest.

Cathedral main entrance



 

 

 

 

  We wanted to head for the Elizabethan fort.  We got slightly lost but with local help we found the entrance but the bad news for us was that it was closed on Mondays!  Better research required.  Other cruise passengers were there so we had much disappointment.  Time was passing and so we decided to head back towards the station.  We largely retraced our steps, looking in one or two more shops, had a rest in a small park and caught the 1400 train back to Cobh.

We deposited most of our stuff in the cabin, had a cup of tea and decided to go to the Titanic heritage centre which was nearby.  We spent over an hour in the interesting place which told the story of emigration from Ireland making a feature of the last Titanic voyage.  We could have spent longer there but had to reboard the Astoria.  Once back on board we learnt that we would not be visiting Scilly tomorrow because of the weather (there had been consultations with St Mary’s harbour) but we would now stay at Cobh overnight and sail direct to Poole.  A bit of a disappointment for many on board especially us as we were hoping to leave the cruise on our doorstep.