July 22, Kinsale

After breakfast, we took a short drive to Kinsale, which is a small harbor town with about 3,000 residents year round and 9,000 in the summer. We parked our car and took a short stroll around town before our walking tour with Barry Maloney. What a lovely place!  We took a 90 minute walking tour with Barry, who was very personable, very interesting and he taught us so much about the history of Ireland. Tom has been so interested in the history here, I think he wants to learn more and more.

What was most interesting was Barry's description of the battle of Kinsale in 1601. In short it was a battle between the Spanish and King George (England) and two northern Irish clans decided to get involved.  The British army surrounded the Spanish who were within the Kinsale city wall.  The Irish surrounded the British and tried to break through the British and join the Spanards on Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately the Irish were surprised by the British Calvary and were defeated.  The Spanish fleet fled and the war was over in three hours.   What happened next connected what we learn in Belfast (modern day Ireland) with the history of Kinsale. When the two Northern Ireland clans were defeated, they were punished by King George and lost their land and control.  The power vacuum in 1601 was filled by Scottish Clans which ultimately led to the modern day allegence to England and the problems between the Ulster Army and the IRA in Belfast.

Thus far, our tour in Kinsale was one of the highlights of our trip.

We had lunch at Fishy Fishy, then continued exploring the town. We did a little shopping and while we were in a woolen store, we met a young mom from Canada who worked there. We had a long conversation with her...she took a course in Ireland on a student visa and fell in love with an Irish man!  She married him, has 2 boys and has lived in Ireland for 10 years. She was such a lovely person, it's so fun to hear people's stories....it's one of our favorite things about traveling....hearing people's stories.

We wandered around town some more then headed back to Cork. After an afternoon rest, we headed out to see how wild Cork gets on a Friday night!  We stopped at a pub for a Guinness, then found a spot for a pizza. We headed back to a pub to hear some music, called it a night and headed back to our hotel.

Tomorrow, we head to Limerick and Shannon and we visit Bunratty Castle for a Medieval feast at dinner.  It's our last night in Ireland which is a bummer.  I could continue visiting the different areas and Tom could live here.  🙂