Clearly I didn't take this photo but this is of the Cobh Harbour.
Well after extending our stay in Dublin two times we finally packed our bags, said farewell to our new friends and boarded a train to our next destination.....Cork!
Cork is a beautiful city, althouhg the second biggest city in the Republic of Ireland it still has a population of that of Bendigo. It is great, it feels like a country town and the people behave that way. They are so friendly. I became used to getting lost in the crowd in London and to come here where strangers wish you 'good day' as you pass them in the street is taking some getting used to. Although the weather on arrival was pretty poor (I wish Melbourne got this kind of rain!) today it improved dramatically. Emily and I made a day trip to a place called Cobh to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine. Formerly called Queenstown before reverting back to its old Irish name, pronounced Cove, it is famous for the being the last port of the Titanic before it sank crossing the Atlantic. Before the development of the commercial Airlines, Cobh thrived as the Port linking Europe with the Americas. Thousands of penniless Irishmen migrated to from this port to America on one of the many liners that used these waters.
It was interesting reading about all the Ships that crossed the waters including the Lusitania which was destroyed in 1911 by a German U-boat 30km from Queenstown. Many of the dead were buried in the cemetery of the old church. This was also the port where the convicts that left for Australia came from as well. We visited the Heritage cetre that had an exhibition on that depicted the condition of the prison ships and provided brief accounts of some of the prisoners stories. Horrid stuff!
I strongly recommend that the future Ireland bound travellers make a detour to Cobh. You won't be disappointed.