Around The World: Exploring Ireland – Cobh

In planning our trip to Ireland I felt a bit overwhelmed. Everyone I talked to mentioned another place we “just had to see,” and with only a week’s time in country, there was just no way to get to it all. The island isn’t all that big, but it does require a fair amount of driving to get from place to place. The drive from Dublin to Cobh was about 3.5 hours, spent in tiny little cars, driving on the wrong side of the road.

There was some lag time between planning this trip and actually going on it, so even though I had it in my mind we were on our way to a quaint seaside town, I began to have a small panic attack as we drove mile after mile through rolling hills and nowhere near what seemed could lead to the ocean. I wanted to believe I wouldn’t have made such a colossal mistake, and prayed I didn’t have the wrong address and no Wi-Fi to double check. We made a quick stop at the closet Aldi to grab Aubrey some food and a few essentials and hopped back in the cars for the last 5 minutes of the drive. I was really starting to get down when we finally crested a hill and were met with this view.

Cobh (pronounced Cove) is in fact one of the quaintest little seaside towns you will find, with a picturesque town square and a grandiose cathedral lording over the horizon. The person that showed us around our rental explained that Cobh is one of the largest natural ports in the world, and hosts many large cruise ships each summer. We were there about two weeks before the hustle and bustle of the summer tourist season began. Lucky us!

We deposited our belongings at the townhouse we rented (Airbnb of course) and walked down to the square for drinks and dinner.

As it turns out it was not so lucky for us. Not only were we there on what was considered the off season, but apparently in Cobh, Mondays and Tuesdays are are the chosen days off for the restaurants in town. Every place that had been recommended was closed, including the restaurant in the old ticketing office for the Titanic that we so wanted to see. We ended up eating at a hotel restaurant that appeared to be the only open place in town.

The old Titanic ticketing office. The Titanic made a stop here in Cobh, but due to it’s size it had to be anchored a bit offshore, and if I remember correctly, I think we were told around 123 passengers were ferried over to it.

We were only there for one night and felt like we had pretty bad timing as far as seeing all that the town really had to offer. Maybe sometime in another life we will be back.

We did manage to find a few beers at a local pub and our dinner was decent. Our stop there was only meant to be a quick overnight to get us close to the Blarney Castle anyway, and for that purpose it worked out perfectly.