Cobh, Fota, and Christmas in Cork!

I’ve been wanting to go to the nearby town of Cobh (pronounced Cove) ever since I got here, so last Friday, Danielle and I took a day trip to Cobh and also went to the Fota Wildlife Park. Cobh’s original name was Cove, then changed to Queenstown for Queen Victoria, but then changed to Cobh for a more Irish spelling after Ireland gained it’s independence.

Cobh is a cute little harbor town and the location of where the Titanic last set sail. It’s also the town were passengers who were survivors and victims during the bombing of the Lusitania where brought and buried during WWI.  It’s also the setting for where many Irish who emigrated to the United States during the Great Famine. So if you have Irish ancestors, they most likely set sail from Cobh.

There are no buses that run to Cobh, so we took the train which was only about a 25 minute ride. We walked around the town for a bit, checked out some shops, and then grabbed lunch. There isn’t a ton to see there, but just a fun town to walk around.

We then headed to Fota Wildlife Park which was a blast! It’s not really a zoo. It’s more or less just wide open spaces where the animals can roam. Ok, so not all the animals wander around. There are a few animals that are in cages such as the cheetahs, zebras, and giraffes. But monkeys, lemurs, llamas, wallabies, etc. just are free roaming. It’s so crazy cause you could really just pet them if you wanted to. We arrived by train and the place was absolutely deserted. There was no one at the gate, but it was open, so we really weren’t sure at first if we should just walk in our not. It felt sort of eerie though cause I knew the animals were just walking around, but there was not a single person around. Finally a lady showed up and told us she had just run to the bathroom and didn’t think anyone was coming. So anyway, we paid to get in, but we literally probably only saw about 10 more people in the entire park, and it’s huge! I guess it’s the off season and cold, but it was nice to be there with not many people.

I just absolutely loved it there though. I loved that the animals have so much room to run around and weren’t caged up for the most part. It was a little scary though cause we were walking through some trees and keeping our eyes peeled for animals, and then all of a sudden we started spotting all these lemurs above our heads! They were everywhere just jumping from tree to tree! It was just so cool to be amongst these animals with nothing between us. The only animal that really scared me were the llamas! I know that sounds ridiculous, but they just kept walking towards Danielle and I and wouldn't stop following us! We even hid behind a tractor at one point so they would pass us! haha             

I was going to post the videos I took from Fota on here, but it takes way too long to load, so I'll put them up on Facebook. 

At 4pm everyday, they do this thing called the Cheetah Run. It’s this machine that has the cheetah’s food and it swings it around making the cheetah’s work for their food. I know this sounds mean, but it’s actually really good for the cheetahs. It lets them get exercise which they definitely need. But it’s also for the public so you can see how fast cheetahs run. But the machine wasn’t working that day, so we didn’t get to see it, and I was pretty bummed about that.

So we spent the rest of the afternoon at Fota and then headed back to Cork and met up with Kacie, Keenie, Caitlin and her friend that was visiting for “Christmas on the Grand Parade.” It’s this Christmas festival that happens in Cork on the weekends prior to Christmas that consists of vendors of food, crafts, jewelry, etc, and then also the park is all lit up with music playing and all sorts of Christmas decorations. It’s mostly for the kids, but we enjoyed it too.

It had been forever since I traveled anywhere in Ireland, so it was a great day trip, and I’m glad I got the chance to go. It was a sad ending to my day though cause I had to say bye to Danielle, Kacie, and Keenie who were all headed for Paris the next day and wouldn’t be back until after I leave for home. I’m excited to come home and see everyone, but it’s still hard to say bye. I’m just so thankful I’ve made such great friendships here and now have an excuse to travel all around the US!

pretty cathedral in Cobh

yes, there are palm trees in Ireland even in December

House of Cards! so neat!

White Star Line-ticket office where passengers bought their tickets for Titanic!

cute little park in Cobh

spot where the Titanic last set sail

I loved these little monkeys!

Wallaby

clearly the fences don't mean anything to this zebra

Lemur!

Danielle and I at Fota

Christmas on St. Patrick's Street!

Oliver Plunkett Street all decorated for Christmas

Christmas on the Grand Parade

last night with these girls :(

park on Grand Parade

Me, Kac, and Keenie