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Cork City 011105

First day of November, and we arrive in Cork City, 250km southwest of Dublin. Also called the Rebel city, it is the second largest city in Ireland, with a population of 175,000. The name of the city comes from the Irish word for marsh - Corcaigh - so it has nothing to do with bottle stoppers or fishing floats!

Anyway, Cork seems a rather pleasant, easy-going city. River Lee runs through it amidst colourful buildings along the St Patrick's Quay.

St Patrick's Quay and to the left, St Patrick's Bridge.

St Fin Barre Cathedral 011105

Just south of downtown, we come to this magnificent building. Used to be the site of a monastery founded by St Fin Barre in early 7th century. The present cathedral was completed 1879.

Cork Scenes 011105

They are doing their best to preserve the Irish language, but I'm finding myself looking at signs seemingly straight out of Lord of the Rings! There is even a Irish language government radio station broadcasting all over the country.

Westwards from Cork 011105

Leaving Cork we push on westwards and the landscape changes. Brightly-coloured houses amidst grazing lands and rocky hills seem the norm. I think this area must have been a forest once, but cut down to rear sheep.

Macroom 011105

And soon we pass through a tidy little town called Macroom, with its colourful street houses and neatly-parked cars ... so typical of Irish towns in the west.

Killarney 011105

Then we are into the narrow streets of the town of Killarney, the gateway to the famous Ring of Kerry scenic route, all 170km of it.

We are now in County Kerry, the southwestern-most corner of the island, facing the mighty Atlantic.