Last weekend a group of us (Alexa, Regan, Michael, and I) traveled on our own to a city in the south of Ireland called Cork. We made it there in one piece without getting on the wrong bus or anything. We even made it to our Hostel without getting super lost, although we did have to ask for directions once. We found some decent shopping and food and had a pretty good time at the pubs which had some really good music. The first pub we went to had a solo artist who played some original music as well as some American music, so that was pretty cool. We also went to a pub that featured a traditional Irish band, which was a really cool experience.

Map from Spiddal to Cork

Inside of Church of St. Anne

Although pub-hopping can be pretty fun, we wanted to make sure that we did some "touristy" things while we were there as well. We first went to the Church of St. Anne which we felt was beautiful. 

After that, we weren't really sure what we wanted to do so we started wondering around the city. We did see this beautiful steeple on the horizon and decided that we should probably check that out. Although the Church of St. Anne was beautiful, it was nothing compared to St. Finn Barre's Cathedral. This church was just absolutely amazing in both its history and its physical beauty. We spoke with a couple of the people working there and learned that the grounds this church was on had a church since the 7th century. This particular cathedral was built in 1865. The workmanship on both the inside and the outside of the Cathedral absolutely amazes me. Not only the fine details themselves, but the fact that people were able to construct it at all without the use of the modern day equipment we have now astonishes me.

The ceiling at St. Finn Barre's

Gargoyle

Today we walked into Spiddal, and as we were leaving, Alexa, Michael and I decided to stop at the basket weaving shop at the little craft village on the edge of Spiddal. It was pretty neat and we watched the guy working there work on a basket, which he says takes about 10 hours in total to complete. He talked to us about it and even should us how to make a St. Bridget's Cross, which is a very popular cross and symbol here in Ireland. It was pretty cool, and I'm looking forward to going to the other shops in the craft village.

St. Bridget's Cross