Kinsale, Ireland

 After a full day of exploring Kilkenny Castle and Waterford, we continued on our drive to the southern coast of Ireland to Kinsale where we will spend the next 2 days. 

     Kinsale is a small picturesque community of about 5,000. 

It has 5 churches and 25 pubs!

    Kinsale has continuously won the coveted title of "The Best Tidy Town". "Every year the Irish government holds a "Tidy Town" contest and the competition is fierce. Dozens of villages are judged for their beauty, charm and yes, tidiness." We soon found out why Kinsale definitely deserves the accolades.  Kinsale is a very friendly, very tidy and very colorful town!

   Our home for 2 days was the lovely Old Presbytery run by Phillip and Noreen McEvoy for 20 years. This historic 1750 original Georgian home has been elegantly and lovingly restored. It was exquisite.

 Before dinner, we explored the area. Kinsale's streetscape is photogenic at every turn mainly due to its maze of twisty, narrow streets lined with an array of boldly painted building facades.

Homes and shops are painted in an array of colors:

red, white and blue

 lime green and vibrant blue as this ice cream shop

and this lovely gentleman's home.

 Some were fuschia and bright blue

others pink, marigold, fire-engine red

and even orange, blue and turquoise! Below is Bulman's pub from 1601. We're pleased to report, it's still going strong!

 Each home and business is a brightly painted unique combination of hues so that the town is literally aglow with color!

As we explored the steep, narrow and often serpentine streets, we found that they all eventually wound down to the spacious waterfront. The marina was lined with sailboats galore, numerous leisure crafts, many yachts, and fishing boats along with whale and dolphin watching boats. 


It's a beautiful harbor and it's no wonder that the annual Kinsale sailboat regatta is the longest running and most popular regatta in all of Ireland. 

   Kinsale is internationally renown as the "Gourmet Capital of Ireland". Thirty years ago, Kinsale chefs pioneered the "slow food" movement in Ireland, which is a farm to table cuisine. We soon understood why this colorful town has this well-earned reputation. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and felt right at home overlooking the bay.

  Since Kinsale is steeped in rich history, and also because Rick Steves, the travel guru, so strongly recommended it, the next morning we took a walking tour of the town with Barry of the "Don & Barry's Historical Stroll". 

It was without a doubt one of the best walking tours we have ever been on! 

    Barry was outstanding. He literally walked us through the history of Kinsale

       


 from the once medieval village to the sinking of the Lusitania in World War I and then onto the present day. 

    Here are a few of the historical tidbits we learned:

     Kinsale's name is derived from the old Irish,"Cionn tSaile" which means "Tide Head".

   
      Kinsale was granted a charter in 1333 from King Edward III and was a prominent medieval town.

   The defeat of the Irish in the "Battle of Kinsale" in 1601 quite literally changed the course of Irish history forever. The English defeated the old order of the Irish chieftains and it laid way for the life-altering arrival of the English planters. 

     And of course, we learned new information of the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, 11 miles off of the shores of Kinsale. 
                                

     The Lusitania, considered one of the "greyhounds" of transatlantic crossings, was the premier luxury liner carrying 1,959 passengers and crew. It was hit by a single torpedo from a German U20 submarine. The Lusitania sank in just 18 minutes. 
     Of the 1,959 passengers and crew, only 764 survived! Among those who perished form America were: mega-millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt, the Broadway impresario Charles Fohman and the noted art collector, Hugh Lane, who was carrying sealed lead tubes containing paintings by Rembrandt and Monet. 
    It should be noted that within less than a minute of the single German torpedo striking the Lusitania, there was a massive second explosion from deep within her hull which shattered her. 

    For 93 years, until 2008, the Lusitania had laid in rest 300 feet below the rough surface of the Atlantic with her secret still intact.

     It wasn't until 2008 that divers were able to retrieve in the Lusitania's plankton-hazed ruins cases "filled with rounds of ammunition" that had been manufactured in America and bought by the British to kill Germans during World War I, thus giving credence to the fact that America was supplying ammunition to help secretly support England in her war effort. This tragedy, especially with such a horrific loss of 1,195 innocent civilian lives, resulted in turning American opinion against Germany.

     Barry's brief history of Kinsdale made us wish we had more days than two to spend in this beautiful, historic town.

      After lunch, we walked 3 miles to  Fort Charles,  one of Europe's greatest surviving examples of a star-shaped fortresses.

Here's an aerial view from the brochure.

We entered Fort Charles.



As its brochure states, "Built in 1678 the fort has two enormous bastions overlooking Summer Cove and three facing inland." 







"Within its walls were all the barracks and ancillary facilities to support the fort's garrison. The fort continued in military use until 1922."


Today Fort Charles is a stark ruin 



but we enjoyed it immensely for its ruins were quite inspiring. The rubble may seem like a careful grouping of stone buildings overlooking a beautiful, serene natural port; but actually, they were the scene of numerous bloody sieges rivaling Braveheart, battles deeply seated in Irish history and the site of British occupation of the fierce, proud Celtic people.

From here, one can see across the harbor the grassy mound which is the ruin of the pentagonal James Fort. This smaller fortress has been in ruins since the 19th century.

 As we left, we were struck by the peaceful, serene setting and spectacular coastal views that Fort Charles is today.

 As we walked back to the marina, we passed by the famous Bulman Tavern.

We stopped in, talked to the bartender and had a Guinness. It was a great pub.

    We continued enjoying our lovely walk around to the marina, soaking in the sights, talking to artisans and enjoying the shops .

As mentioned before, Kinsale has 5 churches and 25 pubs. 

Many of the churches date back to the 12th century such as St. Multose Church from 1190 .

Each pub lists the times of their Irish music for the evening:

After yet another delicious dinner, we decided to go to Dalton's and listen to the traditional Irish pub music. It was an absolutely amazing experience.

The live music session was absolutely fantastic! There was a jovial group of older men sitting at a table performing a combination of Irish songs. They were marvelous musicians. Often folks from the crowd would offer to sing a song and then everyone would turn their attention to the singer and join in at the chorus. It was an amazing evening! And it was a perfect way to end our last night in Kinsale.

                             Slainte!      
                             Cheers!