Cork, Cobh, Cardiff

Cork, Ireland

At the end of May, Sara’s Aunt Lydia, Uncle Mike and cousin, Hannah, were in Ireland for a friend’s wedding, so we planned ahead to meet up with them in Cork, Ireland, excited for an opportunity to meet up with family after a few months into our time abroad. And to have other people to talk to aside from each other 🤣 We chose Cork due to the flight cost (£22), location in relation to the wedding and since we’ve been to Dublin before.

In Cork, we wandered the streets taking in the colorful buildings, enjoyed strolling through the local park, Fitzgerald Park, and got some cheese at the English Market, one of the most popular attractions in Cork. The market has all kinds of fresh fish, cheeses, meat, olives, and of course pastries.

Fish at the English Market

After enjoy Saturday morning taking in the sites of Cork, we headed to some pubs to enjoy our first Guinness pint of the trip, in advance of the Champions League final that Liverpool was in. Kent likes a YouTube channel of an Irish gentleman--the "Guinness Guru--who visits different pubs, drinks a pint of Guinness and then rates it, trying to find the best in Ireland or abroad. The Castle Inn was one of the top rated, so we enjoyed a quiet setting watching the local popular sport, Gaelic football.

Since the Champions League final is one of the most watched events across the globe, and we had seen a lot of Liverpool jersey's across town, we quickly found a place to watch the game and meet up with Lydia and Mike. While the restaurant lacked character, we had secured seats and a front row view to a television so couldn't complain. They did lose, so our night ended up being less lively than we hoped.

On Sunday we took the quick train with Lydia and Mike to Cobh, a small town nearby that is iconic for its large cathedral towering over the town and small row of colorful houses. We walked around the village, visited a Titanic Memorial, as Cobh was the last port of call for the RMS Titanic, and visited that large cathedral that towers over the village. Hannah and her husband, Noah, were able to stop by on their way up to Dublin airport, so we all enjoyed a lunch together.

That evening, the four of us (Lydia, Mike, Kent and Sara) enjoyed a fish dinner, had some artesenal drinks at The Pharmacy, and then headed to some traditional pubs, specifically The Oval and Sin E. The atmosphere in Irish pubs is top notch. Quite lively, often filled with music and the Guinness is worth every drop. Sin E was especially fun, as its known as the home of traditional Irish music in Cork. Sin E means "That's it" in Irish, and some local college students celebrating their graduation informed us that the pub was given this name because it's next door to a funeral parlor.

Our last day in Cork, on Monday, we walked around seeing more historical sites, including the Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral and Elizabeth Fort, a fort for the city in 1601 which later became a place to house prisoners before shipping them to the British colony of Australia. We then headed back to Manchester that evening, wrapping up a lovely few days in southern Ireland with great company.

Cardiff, Wales

Later that week, it was a two-day bank holiday for the Queen's Golden Jubliee, celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 70-year reign. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to take a trip without having to use annual leave, we headed down to the capitol of Wales to explore the city and for a concert. 

Friday evening was a Dermot Kennedy concert at Cardiff Castle that we had known about for a while and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see our favorite artist on such historic grounds. Before the concert we visited some local breweries that really just made us miss Guggman Haus’ beer more and more.

Cardiff Castle is quite well-preserved and sitting inside the castle grounds, protected by an imposing outer wall, is a large greenspace where the concert was held. Truly the most magical concert I’ve ever seen, in terms of musical talent and backdrop. We sang our hearts out, enjoyed a typical British light rain shower and kept thinking “This is why we moved.”

For the rest of our time in Cardiff we walked around the city, enjoyed reading books at Bute Park next to the castle, browsed the shops located in Cardiff’s famous "arcades", mazes of independent stores, and walked down to the bay, which didn’t have much going on.

Saturday night in Cardiff we had planned to enjoy a nice dinner, so booked a table at Nook, a small restaurant with sharing plates that sources local ingredients and has natural wines. The food was delicious, the atmosphere intimate and we got to try a few things we wouldn’t have otherwise including faggot (meatballs of pork offcuts), sea vegetables and more.

Shops and restaurants in the Arcades

Sitting at the park, with Welshcakes and the castle in the background

On our way out of town, Welsh football fans were headed in for the World Cup qualifying game against Ukraine, where Wales secured a spot in the November 2022 World Cup - we're excited to participate in many watch parties over here!

All in all, Cardiff surprised a bit with more to do than we expected and a lovely park and area surrounding the castle. In the summer it would be quite fun to enjoy the water, bike along the coast and then head out to other nearby areas of Wales for a hike or two.