Tag Archives: Ireland

27 August 2019:
Dublin, Ireland:
Once More to the Fair City

By Corey Sandler

Dublin’s Fair City, memorialized in song, is a lovely place to stroll. It includes several of my essentials: a river, handsome buildings, and a university. Oh, and a brewery.

Today was a glorious day in a beautiful city and we went to explore grand sights outdoors and indoors: Grafton Street and the National Gallery amongst them. Amongst the things I explored were ghost signs from times past. Here is some of what I saw through my lenses today:

Stephens Green on Grafton Street
Pure Chemicals and Laboratory Apparatus just might lead to Insomnia
And the cure might involve a barista and a donut
Or a glass of stout. Guinness is the very big boy in town and in all of Ireland, but they are not alone
And for some, the cure lies in retail therapy

You can read more about Dublin on various visits by clicking on the tag at the bottom of this blog or on this link: http://blog.sandlerbooks.com/2019/08/20/20-august-2019-dublin-irelandnot-fade-away/(opens in a new tab)

Trinity College in Dublin

All photos and text Copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. See more photos on my website at http://www.coreysandler.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE ANY PHOTO OR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

20 August 2019:
Dublin, Ireland:
Not Fade Away?

By Corey Sandler

Dublin’s Fair City (where the girls are so pretty)* is just that, a vibrant university town with some high-tech industries and an historic brewery that makes a drink that is pretty much in a class of its own. I went today with guests for a pilgrimage to the Guinness Storehouse, a brewing “experience” that tells the story of this company and culminates with a “jar” of stout beer.

*The opening lines of the iconic song, “Molly Malone.”

Here is some of what we saw:

Coming into the city past the Samuel Beckett Bridge, fashioned in the shape of an Irish harp
The Guinness brewery, which lies outside of the tourist attraction that is the Guinness Storehouse
It starts with water, barley, and yeast
Some of the old brewery equipment, recast as exhibits
Surprise: There’s a gift shop, too, if you’d like to carry or wear free advertising. All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved

Trinity College

Queen Elizabeth I of England established Trinity College in 1592 as a solely Protestant university. She also ordered that the Catholic Saint Patrick’s and Christ Church cathedrals be converted to Protestant.

These are among the many seeds of The Troubles.

Trinity is a handsome place, a bustling city of students. And it is surrounded with cafes and shops, most of them filled with young people. The college and its parent University of Dublin has about 15,000 students.

Today Roman Catholics and indeed all other religious denominations are allowed to enroll.

The chapel bears the tattered standards from many battles; the flags are not restored and the intention is to leave them in place until they disintegrate.

It would seem appropriate to hope that the Troubles of Ireland will similarly fade away.

Tankers of Guiness at the pier.

All photos and text Copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. See more photos on my website at http://www.coreysandler.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE ANY PHOTO OR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

15 August 2019:
Bantry, Ireland:
Deeply Entangled

By Corey Sandler

Bantry is a lovely port with a fine harbor. That’s true of many places in Ireland.

And many places in Ireland and Northern Ireland have complex histories involving independence movements, revolution against the British, and the Struggles between and amongst their own people.

But not many places have quite such a tangle as Bantry.

Silver Wind at anchor off Bantry
Bantry House. All photos by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved 2019.

It is near the birthplace of a 6th century Saint who some believe may have visited North America, or Iceland, or the Faeroe Islands in a leather bathtub.

It was three times invaded by French forces,

And the man who invited the French was previously involved in a plan to set up a free Irish military colony in the Sandwich Islands, what we today call Hawaii.

Irish to the core.

Today I went with guests for a short jaunt across the bay to Whiddy Island, about 3 miles by 2 miles in size, and home to all of 20 people. More importantly, it is also home to a local mussel farm and a pub.

We enjoyed homemade bread, Irish butter, steamed mussels, and beer at the pub and had a taste of old-time Bantry. Here’s the view of Bantry and our ship, looking back from Whiddy Island.

All photos and text Copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. See more photos on my website at http://www.coreysandler.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE ANY PHOTO OR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

14 August 2019:
Cork, Ireland: Signs of the Times

By Corey Sandler

Our first port of call in Ireland is at Cork, close to the bottom of the island.

In actual fact, as they would put it, we docked in the industrial port of Ringaskiddy, across the wide harbor from Cobh.

We journeyed overland about 10 miles to Cork, the big city hereabouts. It was once a grand place, and it holds onto something missing almost everywhere else: a real downtown with locally owned shops.

I spent the morning documenting street signs, shop signs, and the urban landscape. Here is some of what I saw in Cork today:

Reflections of Cork, along the River Lee
A monument to Irish heroes, including nationalist Theobald Wolfe Tone
Saints Peter and Paul Church up a side alley
…and reflected in a store window across the street
Signs of the time
The former Singer Sewing Machine store in Cork, now adorned with a mural reminiscent of the decorations on old machines

Cobh: A Place of Beginnings and Endings

Across its history, Cobh has had an outsized importance as the place of arrival for invaders from Nordic kingdoms, early Britain, and from England, and as the last call in Europe before the long, long voyage to Canada, the United States, and Australia.

One of the closest European ports to Canada and America, Cobh—or Queenstown as it was known then—was the place from which millions of Irish departed to seek a new start in the new world, the land of milk and honey, the place where the streets were paved with gold.

The population of Ireland was estimated at 8.2 million in 1841; half a century later, in 1891, the population was said to be 4.7 million.

As many as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930 from Queenstown, as well as a few other Irish ports, and British ports like Liverpool. Today, more than 10 percent of Americans trace their roots to Ireland.

There was another wave of generally unwilling emigrants who passed through Cobh and other Irish ports. During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to Australian penal colonies by the British government, many through Spike Island in the harbor of Cobh.

One reason for the penal colony in Australia was to alleviate pressure on overburdened prisons at home. Across about 80 years more than 165,000 convicts were transported to the Australian mainland and Van Diemen’s island, now known as Tasmania.

The transport began about 1778, partly because it was no longer feasible to send convicts to the upstart British colonies in North America. About 60,000 convicts had already been sent to the American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Most of the transported prisoners were convicted of relatively minor crimes: despite colorful depictions to the contrary, in general murderers and prostitutes were not shipped to the colonies.

Queenstown was also the last piece of land touched by passengers on the doomed ship Titanic in 1912. And Queenstown was just out of reach of the Lusitania, which came the other direction from New York before it was torpedoed and sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale in 1915.

Today it is a pretty port, a welcoming place, and partly populated–for those who know its history–by ghosts. Memento mori: A reminder of mortality.

All photos and text Copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. See more photos on my website at http://www.coreysandler.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE ANY PHOTO OR AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

13 September 2018:
Cobh, Ireland:
The Old World Left Behind

By Corey Sandler

We arrived with the rising sun this morning in Cobh, Ireland and watched as the city revealed itself:

At the end of the day, we will sail out of the harbor and begin our four-and-a-half-day transatlantic crossing. First port of call in the New World is due to be St. John’s, Newfoundland in Canada on 18 September.

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

Cobh is a place of epic beginnings and endings.

It is one of the closest ports of Europe to Canada and North America.

Cobh—or Queenstown as it was known then—was the place from which millions of Irish departed their homeland to seek a new start in the new world, the land of milk and honey, the place where the streets were paved with gold: America and Canada.

The population of Ireland was estimated at 8.2 million in 1841; half a century later, in 1891, the population was said to be 4.7 million.

As many as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930, from Queenstown, other Irish ports, and British ports like Liverpool.

Today, in the United States, more than 10 percent of Americans trace their roots to Ireland.

Queenstown was the last piece of land touched by passengers on the doomed ship Titanic in 1912.

And Queenstown was just out of reach of the Lusitania, which came the other direction from New York before it was torpedoed and sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale in 1915.

A memorial to the victims of the sinking of the Lusitania by German submarine U-20.­

On this visit I went with guests by ferry to Spike Island in the harbor, built up as a fortress and later made into one of the largest prisons in the world. After passing from British to Irish hands, the last convicts finally left this dreadful place in 2004.

A COBH ALBUM

This statue remembers Annie Moore and her brothers, said to be the first Irish emigrants to leave for Ellis Island in New York. There is another copy of the statue at Ellis Island.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

27 June 2018:
Dublin, Ireland:
Cockles, Mussels, and Guinness

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, the independent nation that shares the 32,600 square mile (84,400 square kilometer) island of Ireland with Britain’s Northern Ireland.

On this visit we went to two of the cultural highlights of Dublin: Trinity College, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I as the mother church in Ireland for the Protestants (but now embraced by the predominantly Catholic population of Dublin) and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, founded in 1191 and now the National Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, which straddles Catholicism and Reformed sects.

Trinity College is the home of the 10th-century Book of Kells, but for me the treasure is the spectacular library of other books nearby. Indeed, Trinity is the repository of books for the Republic of Ireland.

TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY

SAINT PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL

All photos by Corey Sandler, 2018. All rights reserved.

Dublin has a rich and diverse literary history, having produced many prominent literary figures, including Nobel laureates William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. Other influential writers and playwrights include Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula.

It is arguably most famous as the location of the greatest works of James Joyce, including Ulysses, which is set in Dublin.

Other renowned writers include Seán O’Casey, Brendan Behan, and Maeve Binchy.

Guinness tankers at the dock in Dublin. Photo by Corey Sandler

One of the more famous women of Dublin was Molly Malone, although she’s a symbol and not a real ancestor.

The folk song “Molly Malone,” also known as “Cockles and Mussels” or “In Dublin’s Fair City”) is set in Dublin, and it is an unofficial anthem of the city.

The song tells the tale of a beautiful fishmonger who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin, but who died young, of a fever. In some tellings she also worked nights, if you get my meaning.

However, there is no evidence that the song is based on a real woman, of the 17th century or any other time.

But the song persists, as does a commemorative statue on Grafton Street, unveiled during the 1988 Dublin Millennium celebrations.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

26 June 2018:
Waterford, Ireland:
Very Old Ireland

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland.

The modern city still has an old-timey feel–not from the Viking era but more from Georgian and Victorian influence. Once again we were met with a sunny day, not all that common around here:

Silver Wind framed by a replica of a Viking ship.

In the heart of the shopping district of town is a small square with a mirrored open roof. I found the reflection of a pub in the mirror; I can only imagine what it must look like to one of the patrons exiting after a night of imbibing.

VIKING WATERFORD

The Vikings came here in 853 but native Irish were already here, and drove them away.

But they came back and in 914 established a Viking settlement at a riverside location they named Vadrafjord, meaning either “ram fjord” or “windy fjord” in Old Norse.

Three museums in the Viking Triangle district of the town are collectively known ad the Waterford Treasures.

The Medieval Museum includes the Cloth of Gold vestments which were lost for hundreds of years after they were hidden from Cromwell’s army.

The Bishop’s Palace, within a magnificent Georgian home, is well-decorated in 18th century style. It showcases what is said to be the oldest surviving piece of Waterford Crystal, the Penrose Decanter, dating from 1789, as well as the Napoleon Mourning Cross, the only one to survive out of twelve that were made on his death.

The Treasures of Viking Waterford are within Reginald’s Tower, named after the Viking leader who founded Waterford in 914. There you will find a 9th century sword and weapons from a Viking warrior’s grave and a spectacular 12th century gold kite brooch.

THE CRYSTAL CITY

Today the place is probably best known for high-quality Waterford crystal, although the old factory is more of a gift shop with crafts demonstrations.

All photos and text Copyright 2018 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

4 June 2017:
Killybegs, Ireland:
Little Cells

By Corey Sandler

You would not be thought odd by me if you figured that Killybegs was the name of a Monty Python sketch.

But, no.

The  Gaelic translation for Killybegs is ‘Na Cealla Beaga’ which means “little cells.” The name is derived from an ancient monastery in the area.

I am going to make an assumption that cells were nothing at all like our suites aboard ship.

We are in northwest of Ireland near the border with Northern Ireland.

Killybegs, population about 1,297 on a fair day, is on the south coast of County Donegal, near Donegal Town.

Inland is quite green and pastoral, the Ireland of most of our expectations.

But the coastline in this corner is very dramatic, with the highest sea cliffs of Europe, beaches, and wintertime snow. The Wild Atlantic Way (so dubbed by the local tourist boards) stretches 2,500 kilometers or 1,550 miles from County Donegal and Killybegs.

Today, Killybegs is a very quiet place. It is though, the home of Ireland’s largest fishing fleet and our ship fit in between and amongst trawlers at the dock.

Above town the restored Church features a major stained glass window dedicated to the fishermen of town.

And speaking of Monty Python, I went to make a pilgrimage to a place I spotted on the map: Fawlty’s Lounge. Alas, Basil was nowhere to be seen and I later learned that the nightclub had gone out of business recently.

Or perhaps they moved to a location closer to the sea…or in it.

ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT 2017, COREY SANDLER

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IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

3 June 2017:
Foynes, Ireland:
Location, Location, Location

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Foynes, population about 600, is a pretty village in County Limerick in the midwest of Ireland. But there are many pretty places in Ireland.

Foynes has a deepwater port, inland from the open ocean and well-sheltered, on the southern bank of the Shannon Estuary, a 60-mile-long tidal waterway that runs from the City of Limerick to the Atlantic Ocean.

But there are other major ports in Ireland, too. Cobh and Cork, and Waterford for example. And in Northern Ireland there is Belfast. They are all quite old and established ports.

But in 1930 there was something special about Foynes that is not matched by those larger and better-known ports: location, location, location, at least when it comes to its line of latitude.

In the early 1930s, as plans were being made for the first commercial transatlantic flights between the United States and Europe, early aviators sought the shortage distance point-to-point and passage over land for as much of the trip as possible, adding a margin of safety.

In 1933, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who was working for Pan American Airlines as a consultant, homed in on Foynes.

The idea was to use flying boats, huge aircraft that included the Flying Clipper design. Land-based commercial airplanes did not have the fuel capacity to cross the Atlantic with a full load of passenger and freight.

Flying out of New York, planes would hug the east coast of the United States, over Boston and Maine, and then pass over Nova Scotia in Canada and finally Newfoundland before making the over-water crossing to Ireland. The distance was about 3,050 miles.

Foynes had the added advantage of being in Ireland and not England; Ireland was already signaling its intention to remain neutral as the winds of war arose, and indeed it would hold that position throughout World War II.

Construction of a terminal in Foynes was begun in 1935, and the first transatlantic proving flights were operated on July 5, 1937 with a Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 flight from Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador. Service to New York, Southampton, Montreal, Poole and Lisbon followed.

Foynes would be one of the most important international terminuses of commercial flight from 1939 to 1945, through World War II.

The age of the flying boat was relatively short. Advances in technology—accelerated by World War II military demands—led to development of longer-range propeller-driven and then jet aircraft.

In 1942, Shannon Airport opened on flat boglands on the northern bank of the same estuary as Foynes. And in 1946, after the end of the war, the flying boat station in Foynes closed.

A DAY IN BUNRATTY

On this visit I went with a group of guests further up the River Shannon to Limerick to make a visit to Bunratty Castle. This structure was built about 1425 and went through a number of owners, beginning with wealthy landholders, then Kings and other Nobles in the region of North Munster.

The three story castle fell into near ruin but was lovingly restored and reopened in the 1950s. It includes some amazing period gurniture and decorations and very well conveys the claustrophobia of dwelling within a 600-year-old stone castle.

Inlaid into the wall of the Great Hall was an ancient fertility symbol, promising (or threatening) children to women who passed by.

Surrounding the castle is a Heritage Park that displays buildings from the 18th century including private houses, farm houses, a schoolhouse, doctor’s office, and other structures.

We capped off the somewhat chilly day with a stop at a bar for a cup glass of Irish coffee. I asked the bartender to hold the coffee and hold the cream and I enjoyed the rest.

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Foynes is generally a rather damp and sometimes chilly place, and perhaps not the most wonderful place to land after a 20-hour flight in a boat.

An oft-reported story–which does not necessarily mean it is true–is that Joe Sheridan, chef at the restaurant at the terminal in Foynes, greeted cold and wet passengers arriving on one of the Clippers with a cup of coffee greatly improved by the addition of Irish Whiskey and cream.

There are some people who say that in the process he ruined three perfectly good drinks: coffee, whiskey, and cream.

Text copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

 

2 June 2017:
Cobh, Ireland:
A Place of Beginnings and Endings

By Corey Sandler, Destination Consultant Silversea Cruises

Cobh is a place of epic beginnings and endings.

It is one of the closest ports of Europe to Canada and North America.

Cobh—or Queenstown as it was known then—was the place from which millions of Irish departed their homeland to seek a new start in the new world, the land of milk and honey, the place where the streets were paved with gold: America and Canada.

The population of Ireland was estimated at 8.2 million in 1841; half a century later, in 1891, the population was said to be 4.7 million.

As many as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930, from Queenstown, other Irish ports, and British ports like Liverpool.

Today, in the United States, more than 10 percent of Americans trace their roots to Ireland.

Queenstown was the last piece of land touched by passengers on the doomed ship Titanic in 1912.

And Queenstown was just out of reach of the Lusitania, which came the other direction from New York before it was torpedoed and sunk off the Old Head of Kinsale in 1915.

A COBH ALBUM

A SIDE TRIP TO CORK

On this visit, we were off the ship early and onto a morning train up the estuary to the big city of Cork, about 15 miles away. In not-all-that-ancient times, the distance was enough to make the cities grow very differently.

Today, Cork is a lively town with a wealth of Georgian and Victorian buildings and a few pieces of idiosyncratic architecture as well.

Here are some photos from today:

Silver Wind at the dock, as seen from the train station on the other side of the quay.

An old mill in Cork, converted to apartments.

Inside and outside the English Market in the heart of Cork.

ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHT COREY SANDLER 2017, all rights reserved.

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Text and images copyright 2017 by Corey Sandler. All rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a high-resolution image, please contact me.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS

————-

Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”

Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA9QTBM

Henry Hudson Dreams cover

Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession: The Tragic Legacy of the New World’s Least Understood Explorer (Kindle Edition)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS,  PLEASE CONTACT ME.

SEE THE “How to Order a Photo or Autographed Book” TAB ON THIS PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS