Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [212]
Getting There & Away
Bus Éireann ( 021-450 8188; www.buseireann.ie) runs frequent services to Cork (€11, 50 minutes, 14 daily) and Waterford (€15, 1½ hours, 11 daily).
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WESTERN CORK
The Irish coast begins the slow build of beauty that culminates in counties even further west and north, but what you find here in Cork is already quite lovely. Kinsale is a superb little waterside town and there are many smaller ones almost as charming along the craggy coast to the Ring of Beara. It’s perfect for aimless wandering as roads criss-cross the area like lace made by a deranged person.
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KINSALE
pop 4100
Kinsale (Cionn tSáile) may be the perfectly sized Irish coastal town. Narrow winding streets, tiny houses and bobbing fishing boats and yachts give it a seductive picture-postcard feel. Its sheltered bay is guarded by a huge and engrossing fort, just outside the town at Summercove.
Kinsale enjoys a food reputation beyond its size and boasts numerous good restaurants, including one excellent seafood bistro. The compact centre is good for walking and there are artsy little shops aplenty. More walks wander off along the shore in both directions.
History
In September 1601 a Spanish fleet anchored at Kinsale was besieged by the English. An Irish army from the north, which had appealed to the Spanish king to help it against the English, marched the length of the country to liberate the ships, but was defeated in battle outside the town on Christmas Eve. For the Catholics, the immediate consequence was that they were banned from Kinsale; it would be another 100 years before they were allowed back in. Historians now cite 1601 as the beginning of the end of Gaelic Ireland.
After 1601 the town developed as a ship-building port. In the early 18th century, Alexander Selkirk left Kinsale Harbour on a voyage that left him stranded on a desert island, providing Daniel Defoe with the idea for Robinson Crusoe.
Orientation
Most of Kinsale’s hotels and restaurants are situated near the harbour and within easy walking distance of the town centre; Scilly, a peninsula to the southeast, is barely a 10-minute walk away. A path continues from there to Summercove and Charles Fort.
Information
Pearse St has a post office and banks with ATMs. Public toilets are next to the tourist office.
Bookstór ( 021-477 4946; www.bookstor.ie; 1 Newman’s Mall) An excellent indie bookshop; top-notch recommendations of the best modern Irish fiction.
Castle Cleaners ( 021-477 2875; Market St; per load drop-off €12 9am-6pm Mon-Fri)
Elasnik Web Café ( 021-477 7356; Market Sq; per 60min €5; 10am-7pm) Free coffee thrown in with the hourly rate.
Kinsale Bookshop ( 021-477 4244; 8 Main St) Another excellent indie shop; has poetry readings.
Tourist office ( 021-477 2234; www.kinsale.ie; cnr Pier Rd & Emmet Pl; 9.15am-5pm Tue-Sat Nov-Mar, Mon Apr-Jun, Sep & Oct, 10am-5pm Sun Jul-Aug) Has a good map detailing walks in and around Kinsale.
Sights
The best way to see Kinsale is on foot. You can spend an enjoyable day just walking the local environs.
A nifty Regional Museum ( 021-477 7930; Market Sq; adult/concession €3/1.50; 10am-5pm Wed-Sat, 2-5pm Sun) is based in the 17th-century courthouse that was used for the inquest into the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915. The museum contains information on the disaster, as well as curiosities as diverse as Michael Collins’ hurley stick and shoes belonging to the eight-foot-tall Kinsale Giant.
Kinsale’s roots with the old wine trade are on display at Desmond Castle ( 021-477 4855; www.heritageireland.ie; Cork St; adult/child €3/1; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Easter-Sep, last admission 45min before closing), an early 16th-century fortified house that was occupied by the Spanish in 1601. Since then it has served as a custom house, as a prison for French and American captives and as a workhouse during the Famine. There are lively exhibits detailing its history and a small wine museum (www.winegeese.ie) that tells the story of the Irish wine-trading