APRIL 14 - Before we head out of town on this gray, rain-speckled day, stop at Blackrock Fort to the east of town (built out over the south bank of the Lee River).
This fort has a good defensive position to protect Cork, one of the largest natural harbors in the world. It has obviously undergone significant reconstruction, and today is used as an observatory.
Drive 30 minutes south to Kinsale, at nearly the southwest extreme of Ireland. Old Head (shown above) is a dramatic cliff-lined promontory. This is as far as we could get along it, the remainder of the peninsula occupied by a private gold course.
At Old Head is a memorial to the RMS Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat offshore on May 7, 1915, and was the trigger event for a wider negative opinion of Germany. It contributed to the entry of the US into WWI a few years later.
Walk around Kinsale, a little town that has become a popular tourist destination. A few old churches are present, and many storefronts are brightly painted.
