The Southwest

Greetings to you all.  We had such a busy weekend!  On Saturday we drove from Kilkenny to Cork and got to our new hotel.  On Friday night there was quite a party, called a "Stag and Drag", this is what they call bachelorette parties.  I didn't not sleep past midnight; we even called the front desk because the girls were partying in the hall.  When we checked out bright and early Saturday morning we mentioned it and it sounds like the parties are common at that hotel.  The gal was nice enough to give us free parking for our stay, but we will be letting our travel agent know about this and that the hotel needs serious renovating.  We headed to Cork and checked into our hotel; it is a very nice one and I doubt there will be any issues here.  After checking in, we walked to the English Market. I love how people shop daily for their food here; it is such good exercise walking everywhere.  In fact, by Saturday night we had walked 7.5 miles.  Here is a view of the market.  There is a restaurant and also a bistro upstairs for eating your lunch, but I believe most people just come here to buy their meat and produce.

After eating lunch, we walked back to the hotel, got in the car to head out. Our next stop was Rock of Cashel; another ruins that was fascinating. I've got to upload all the photos on my phone so I can share some of our meals.

The painting is almost gone, but there is a restoration team using ultraviolet lights to aid them in the paintings restoration.

This was one of the houses on the long walk to the English Market. Love the bright color and window boxes. After exploring the Rock of Cashel, we headed down to a little town called Kinsale. It was charming, but by this time I was running out of gas-which is why no photos were taken. We headed back to Cork and ended up eating at the Bistro in the hotel. They were having several specials, which were as cheap as Pub Grub and we loved the food. Needless to say I was asleep by 8:30 p.m. and slept till 6:30 a.m. We set our for another adventure yesterday, but right now I'm going to see if I can pull up some photos from my phone to share. I hope you've enjoyed our trip; we certainly are.
Blessings,
Noreen