"Fare thee well a while"

"Leaving on a wet train"

Top Five Things About Cork

As I’m getting settled in a new town, I felt it would be cathartic for me to look back on the bizarre month I spent in Cork. Two weeks of which, mind, was being quarantined in a studio apartment. And yet… there are definitely things I’ll miss about it.

1. The English Market

The sad thing is this whole place used to be packed...

This was, for all intents and purposes, my home supermarket. Most people used it as a tourist attraction, you know… see the drisheen and gross intestine-based food that’s on display. Go to the main hall, look around, marvel at how bacon is different in Ireland.

But for me, I did almost all of my food shopping here. I’d go to “Superfruit” for vegetables, then go to whatever meat purveyor I thought would be fun for the day. Let’s try the smoked fish place! No, not that one, the other one. O’Flynn’s Gourmet Sausages (they also had a shop outside of here… but still good here!), sure! I tried as many places as I could. And Farmgate café, the restaurant upstairs, is still one of my favorite restaurants in Cork after a month here. Last, the coffee shop here actually serves iced tea, unlike pretty much every other coffee shop in town.

2. St. Finn Barr’s Cathedral

Ok, when I say the Cathedral, I don’t mean actually inside. I never went inside. But I mean looking at this gorgeous thing, laid out on a beautiful green grass tablecloth. This is where I’d go to read, shaded under a large tree, and just enjoy a beautiful day in Cork.

Also, there’s some cool graffiti right behind it.

[Images redacted due to graphic content]

3. River Lee

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for rivers. I love em. Don’t know why. I don’t fish, so it’s not that. They fill up the “moment of Zen” on this blog. It’s not that it’s sparkling clean or even gorgeous. It flooded occasionally, drenching some nearby cars. But walking along the banks (on either side of City Centre) was always reinvigorating for me.

4. People here actually care about social issues

...sadly, I still don't know what "direct provision" is.

All the same arguments that are being held at home in America—BLM, Trump, etc—are part of the Zeitgeist here. Even though it doesn’t really affect them. I asked a Corker about this, and he said “it’s just awful what they’re doing to them” [BLM], and thought “when do Americans ever get outraged about stuff like that overseas to the degree of protests”? I don’t remember seeing any Uighur internment protests at home, for instance.

5. Food

People think of County Cork as the farming/bread basket champ for Ireland. And man, they’re right. I don’t even like cheese, but I know it’s a big deal here. I did try the Toonsbridge Mozzarella by the way, which is great on pizza. So here’s just a bunch of pictures of great food.

All that being said, loved my time here, but excited for a bit of countryside escape in Killarney! I'll devote my moment of zen to my new town, but as a final farewell, just a few more random pics from Cork.

Random Pics from Cork

Moment of Zen:

Killarney Park. My new home.