Dope Irish Places - Cork

This past weekend, a bunch of AU kids and others headed over to Cork for a couple of days. Although waking up before the sun is up is difficult at times, it sure is a whole ton easier when you know you're doing it for the purpose of exploring a new city. We had a relatively early bus (10 am) and finding the Bus Eireann depot in Dublin was a bit confusing mostly because the only directions we had before getting there was, "The bus station is somewhere off of O'Connell Street". Now, O'Connell street is rather big, so there were plenty of places this station could be. We finally did get there and upon sitting down on the bus, we all passed out essentially until we got to Cork. 

Our hostel from the outside

The hostel we stayed at (Bru Bar and Hostel) was a combination of a bar, hostel and internet cafe. How completely accurate is it that in Ireland a bar is attached to a hostel? It proved very useful when we had some time to kill before meeting up with others.. all we had to do was walk down the stairs, order a pint and wait until everyone got there.

This is what you see upon entering our hostel - reception is just to the right behind the bar

After settling in for a few minutes, we headed down into downtown Cork. Walking through this city was spectacular. We all fell in love with it and were surprised that Chris, our friend who grew up there, didn't talk about it as if it were the best city in the world. Essentially, we all were beyond happy. When I envisioned being in Ireland, I imagine small to medium sized cities with cobble-stoned streets lined with shops and the occasional chain restaurant or department store. Cork (and possibly Galway) is what I envisioned. Dublin isn't exactly what I expected, but most major cities are extremely influenced by tourism and the increased population of international citizens. 

The view from the bridge we had to cross to get to our hostel. 

Something that I noticed in Cork more so than in Dublin or Galway so far - the politeness and the general home-y atmosphere of our surroundings and the people. Every person that we passed by could tell we were tourists (mostly because we were taking pictures of everything and anything - sorry I'm not sorry) and they did everything they could to help us out. At one point, we had a map out looking for the next place to visit and a local came up and asked us if we were lost. Irish hospitality and politeness at its finest. 

Downtown Cork - City Centre

Street in Cork.

English Market Cork!

One of the major attractions in Cork is the English Market. It was an indoor market but with the sun shining through the many windows, it gave it an outdoor feel. Because this place is so popular among both tourists and the locals, we stopped by and explored. The market was honestly one of the most amazing places to walk through. There were plenty of bakeries, wine shops along with cheese, meat, and fish - all completely fresh! Walking through this market reminded me of the Amish Market I have been to in downtown Philadelphia near City Hall. I wouldn't really want to compare America with Ireland, but the similarities between the two were extremely apparent.  If only everywhere had the opportunity to get food as fresh as it was here.. 

I'm not even the biggest fan of olives, but I would convert in order to thoroughly enjoy these.

Fresh chicken and food galore! 

Nomz. The baked goods were so good! 

view from the top of the market looking down on a section! 

Enjoying our baked goods and coffee at the city park :)

After exploring Cork during the day, it was time to explore Cork at night. We had heard about a local pub crawl that was said to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, all of the people that were involved in the pub crawl that night were about 17 (with fake IDs) or babies who had just turned 18. We didn't have a problem getting into the first bar, but the overwhelming amount of young biddies with pounds of make up on (to the point of changing their skin color from white to a dark shade of brown), tight skirts barely covering their asses, bandeaus as shirts and heels that averaged 5 inches was too much to handle. It was worse than the Welcome Week crowds at AU... that's saying something. Overall, the crawl was not well organized, therefore we hassled the man in charge and got half of what we paid for back. We then found a local little pub and spent the night there. This first night was really a bonding experience and brought us that much closer with each other. Yay friends!