Fun & Frolics on the Emerald Isle

5.30 on the 5th August sees us rising, reluctantly at first, from our warm bed. Until after a cup of tea, a shower and a few last minute packing details we are ready to leave for Heathrow airport. Destination the “Gourmet capital of Ireland” Kinsale, county Cork.
We meet with Liz & Ray at bag drop and head straight for the Champagne bar where we feast for breakfast on smoked salmon & scrambled eggs accompanied by of course Champagne. Well it’s never too early for champagne!
After a short flight (1hr) we land at Cork airport and pick up our hire car a Nissan Quashqai (Nice). V excited at driving this, Ray & I are nominated drivers although we are not expecting to do a lot of driving around. We start our weekend by visiting Cobh where the Titanic picked up it’s last passengers and where the survivors from the Lusitiania were brought to. If you have been luck enough to visit Ellis Island in New York, well this town is the starting point of that journey for most of the Irish immigrants that left Ireland at that time. It is a very nice town and we have a stroll around, the weather is overcast and breezy but still reasonably warm. We then head to Blarney in anticipation of kissing the Blarney stone. I have done this before but must have been misguided on which stone to kiss! We later hear that they have moved the stone due to health & safety regulations. We are quite disappointed as we cannot get to see the Castle from the outside of the grounds and it is expensive to get in, so we settle for going to the pub instead.
After a pint and a sandwich we head towards Kinsale where we check into the Trident Hotel. It is right on the harbour and we have nice rooms with a view over looking the harbour and into the town. We stretch our legs with a quick guided tour courtesy of Liz & Ray, this is their 3rd trip in just over a year, so they are well versed in what goes on where. First dining experience is Fishy Fishy, guess what we eat? The best sign of a good fish restaurant is that it does not smell of fish well this one certainly didn’t. A glass of sparkly pink stuff gets us in the mood and soon we are feasting on the freshest fish around. Hake, Haddock, Monkfish are the order of the day and all are super. This was washed down by an excellent and very cold New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
Everywhere you go you are served the local soda bread. This is quite different from the soda bread I am used to. It is in the shape of a loaf tin, not round, and it brown not white. Man Friday wins the prize for me for the best soda bread of the weekend.