One short but sweet afternoon in Cork, Ireland

After a great morning at Blarney Castle, we headed back into Cork. This was our last afternoon before we had to catch the train up to Galway. We had about 3 hours to spend and were going to make the most of it. Cork is the second-largest city in Ireland, with the River Lee running through the middle of it. In Cork, we stayed at 2a Mountain View through Airbnb. It was the cutest little two-bedroom house that I could have stayed in forever. We had a great time, and would definitely stay there again on a return visit to Cork! If you’ve never used Airbnb before, click here to get $40 off your first booking!

Our first stop was the Cork Butter Museum, one of those cute, kitschy little museums, all about the butter industry in Cork. This was apparently a booming business back at the turn of the century, and the butter exchange in Cork set the prices for butter every morning. Butter is Ireland’s most important export, and this was the largest butter market in the world. For just €4, you too can learn all about how important butter is in Ireland. All Kerrygold butter (which can be found in the US) is made from grass-fed cows, which is rare for most mass-produced butter. The more you know! Then it was off to the Shandon Sweet Shop.  All their candy is made right on site. The lemon sweets were especially tasty! It’s right around the corner from the Butter Museum, so you can’t miss it.

The yummiest fish pie at Gallagher’s Gastro Pub

For dinner, we went to Gallagher’s Gastro Pub, which was a random pick. It happens to be one of the top-rated restaurants in Cork according to Trip Advisor – and you know we always trust Trip Advisor! I had the fish pie, which was hands down the tastiest thing I’ve ever had. If I had to have a last meal, that is what I would pick. It had a mixture of salmon and whitefish and was perfectly savory without being too fishy. It also came with a really good slice of homemade garlic toast. Five stars from me, and it definitely topped the list of the best food I had in Ireland.

Sadly, our time in Cork had come to a close. We headed back to our Airbnb to get our bags before catching our train to Galway and more adventures! We definitely only scratched the surface of Cork. For other things to do, Sin é, a pub very close to Gallagher’s, is supposed to be one of the best places for traditional Irish music in Cork. The English Market is a great place to go for ingredients to make dinner if you’re staying somewhere with a kitchen – lots of stalls selling fresh food of all varieties! There is also an art museum – the Crawford Art Gallery, several churches, and the Cork City Gaol. Definitely enough to keep you busy for a couple of days!