A travel blog of Ireland, Europe, and New Zealand

County Cork is a large region which includes, of course, the city of Cork. For some reason, those who live in the western part of this region stress that they are from West Cork, with the implication being that they are somehow different (and one suspects, superior) to those unfortunate enough to live just in “Cork”. We explored some of it on a four-day long weekend recently.

We got an excellent hotel deal, partly because it was situated in a town called Macroom that is less of a tourist spot than many others but we had a rental car and it suited us very well as a base. Macroom itself was a pretty enough town, with a photogenic bridge and, as per your standard Irish town, a ruined 12th century castle and quite a few pubs.

Is she waiting for the bar to open or has she been evicted for unruly behaviour?

Travelling on the main Cork – Macroom – Killarney highway is pretty bland but once you head south for the coast you see some picturesque vistas.

We had seen a Seafood Festival advertised in the town of Baltimore so headed in that direction. What they didn’t tell you was that on the first advertised day of the Festival, the seafood didn’t start until 7pm and here we were expecting a nice oystery lunch! Never mind, the Island Crafts shop was interesting.

So we headed back to Skibbereen for lunch in a restaurant that had been a church and took a couple of “arty” shots.

The wine in perfect focus!