While in Cork, we decided to take a day trip to Kinsale, a seaside village known as the gourmet capital of Ireland.  Having had trouble finding our hotel the day before, we went to the front desk and asked the clerk for directions.  She handed us a typed page, explaining that the Irish often use landmarks (turn right at the statue, turn left at the river, etc.) rather than street signs.  The paper listed directions for three major tourist destinations — Blarney, Kinsale and Cobh.

Feeling confident and prepared, we headed out.  As Paula drove, I navigated once again, carefully reading off the instructions line by line.  Everything was going great until I realized I was looking at the wrong part of the page, and we were heading to Blarney instead of Kinsale.  It was now obvious to both of us that my navigating skills needed work.

Eventually, with the help of directions from several friendly locals, we found the right road and made it to the small coastal town.  As we wandered the streets (there aren’t many of them) we saw a number of restaurants and shops with cute names like Fishy, Fishy …

Poet’s Corner …

and Granny’s Bottom Drawer.

A few hours later, after a relaxing lunch and stopping at the Tourist Information Center for a detailed map, we returned to the hotel.

Although Kinsale was nice, the best part of our trip to Cork was staying at the Ambassador Hotel and Health Club.  The room was large and comfortable, the food was excellent (the brownie and ice cream dessert was grand!) and the restaurant hostess, Hazel, did a fantastic job of making us (and everyone else) feel welcome. We gave it four stars!

Next stop … Dingle.