Weekend 6 - Home is where The Spaniard is
After completing my midterms on Friday afternoon, my housemate Jessica generously dropped me off in Cork so I could meet up with Leah and Scott who had flown in through Shannon that morning. If you don't know Leah and Scott then it is a complete mysetry as to why you are reading this blog as they are main characters in my life.
We drove (read: Scott drove) to Kinsale and checked in to the Actons Hotel which was perfectly situated on the water and walkable to all of the things we wanted to do. To be fair, most things in Kinsale are walkable to each other so maybe that is not exactly notable. We dropped our bags and set to exploring. The town itself is extremely charming - the bright colors of all the buildings looks almost Mediterranean or tropical but somehow the overall effect is still very Irish.
We had dinner reservation at St. Francis Provisions which was small and lovely. We sat at the three-person bar and were served by the owner herself. Highlights were the fish, kimchi pancake, housemade focaccia. Oh, and they had Schodl wine which you may recall from a few weeks back when I fell in love with the Austrian winemaker who came to Ballymaloe? You remember Leonhard of course. The wine was still really good without him present. As the locals would say “so yum”.
Afterwards we went to The Grey Hound for a few pints so that Leah and Scott could begin to find out if they are Guiness, Murphy’s, or Beamish girlies. The jury is out, more research required! The Grey Hound was exactly the type of pub that inspired the trip in the first place - multiple fireplaces and snugs, low ceilings, floors tilted at a full 45 degree angle, old men who maybe live there. The first of many incredible pubs in our weekend.
Saturday morning we were up before any businesses were open. There is a worldwide epidemic of coffee places not opening until 8am and I will run for office on this single issue. This is early-riser discrimination! But it was also a lovely excuse to talk around the town in the daylight and get our bearings. We ended up getting great coffee and pastries at OHK then took off on our ultimate pilgrimage - to find The Spaniard.
From the time I committed to coming to Ballymaloe, Leah and Scott have been planning a trip to Ireland because I am codependent and needy. And when it was decided we would spend the weekend in Kinsale, Scott has been talking up a pub called The Spaniard. Every few months he would text us “see you at the spaniard” as if this meant anything to us. Not even the world’s top scientists know how or why he heard of this pub but we needed to find it.
We ended up on the other side of town, up a few hills, but we found it! Of course it was not open at 9am, but we were set to return that evening. Spoiler alert - it was great.
After our pilgrimage we went to Cosy Cafe for breakfast, a cute spot that seemed to have a lot of locals at it which is always a good sign. I of course had my second sausage roll of the weekend at this point. Why hasn’t America fully embraced sausage rolls? They are the perfect food almost. Cosy Cafe also had iced coffee - a delicacy that Ireland doesn’t seem to know or care about and that made my American heart sing.
Midday we took a taxi over to the village of Clonakilty to do a whiskey distillery tour at the aptly and creatively named Clonakilty Whiskey. Yum! The town itself was very cute and was apparently named best town in Ireland or the UK in 2017? Best by what standard and named by who is neither here nor there. After whiskey tasting we got sandwiches from Pike deli and ate them outside before heading to De Barra which is in the running for most quintessentially cute Irish pub ever (by me, not an official governing body). They are known for live traditional irish music but unfortunately it was only us and an older gentleman and his terrier that afternoon.
We hopped in a taxi back to Kinsale for pre-dinner drink at Prim’s Bookshop which feels like something that would only exist in a rom com - used book store and coffee shop by day, cool and trendy wine bar by night?? Someone call up Nancy Meyers we have a new movie idea! Nora Ephron? Hello??
Dinner was at Fishy Fishy - good in a very standard way. But then the time had come. The moment we had been dreaming about for over a year. It was time to go to The Spaniard. And boy, oh boy, did it deliver. We were the youngest people there by at least a few decades other than the 14 (?) year old bartenders, the bathrooms were outside, paintings of pirates or maybe just land barons, an old woman drinking a fluorescent green midori at the bar. Paradise on earth!! Leah and Scott both made very valiant and continuous efforts to “split the G” while we were there. For those of you not in the know, that is when your first sip of Guinness needs to perfectly line up with the middle of the G on your glass. Evidence below:
Even though the night itself was not a late one, we still slept in by our standards (8:30) before going to Lemon Leaf for breakfast. Had another iced coffee which officially cements Kinsale as a cultural hub of Ireland for me personally. Then we did a meandering walk through the hills of Kinsale. Every view felt more picturesque than the last but my poor little iPhone11 was not up to the task of accurately capturing it. Did you know you can buy a 3 bed 2 bath gorgeous home in Kinsale for under 500K euros? Boston has broken my real estate brain.
We checked out of our hotel and stopped quickly in Cobh on our way back to Ballyamloe. It was a quick visit but we saw the massive and gorgeous cathedral, stopped in a few shops, had lunch (and another sausage roll) at Salt Cafe, struggled up some of the steepest hills we’ve ever walked with cute “deck of cards” houses.
Ultimately though, we had important agenda items left on this day. The reason for the season, as they say. Which was of course to show Leah and Scott my swim and sauna spot. Sadly my man John was not there, but the sun had finally come out and the entire thing was perfect. Both in that being the sea cleanses your soul and that the crowd there was a bunch of middle aged irish men all realizing they would be at the same wedding the following weekend despite not knowing each other prior to that very sauna session.
Leah and Scott went to luxuriate in Ballymaloe House Hotel leaving me to my night of homework (reading about the ham hocks I will need to boil Monday). Despite the boiling ahead of me - a very lovely weekend indeed!