European Weekend Getaway - Cork, Ireland

Why not... especially if the flight costs less than £30. What was supposed to be a simple bike ride with K by the river to a nearby pub turned into a flight club meeting and a weekend in Cork was the outcome.

The journey to Cork was uneventful. But our first beers were consumed at the Spoons in the airport, sticking to airport traditions. Upon arriving in Cork, we were greeted by portraits of red haired Irish at the airport and the traditional Irish rain. Wanting to escape the rain, we put our bags in the hostel and had a drink at the hostel bar before braving out to the bus station to catch a bus to the Jameson distillery, which is unique due to the triple distilling process. It was a very informative tour around the distillery, ending with complimentary whiskey, which was indeed very smooth.

Jameson Distilery, Midleton, Cork

Having had lunch near the distillery, we headed back into Cork and beginning our own pub crawl around Cork. Starting slow at the Franciscan Well Brewery and Brewpub, we then stumbled across another pub which had a few performances organised, starting with an Irish french band which performed a few good pieces. Unfortunately, they're not on spotify yet and they will only be a memory for now (I can't even remember their band name). Then it got slightly more bizarre, someone came in to teach the audience how to hula hoop - with a few beers already imbibed, trying hula hooping in public became pretty standard. Finally, a drum circle with a very controlling head drummer. Done with the bizarreness of the night, we looked for something to eat and ended up in a McDonalds, only after (or before) a drink at a random dive bar. We then followed the crowd into a very standard bar / dance floor which was full of the standard crowd of people on the pull - am getting way too old for this. Having stumbled back to the hostel, we had one final Whiskey and Ginger Ale of the trip at the hostel bar (we thought).

Roughly 3 hours of sleep later, we then had to push ourselves to the airport and there, the questionable decision to have another drink as hair of the dog.... but it was probably not long enough after the night out for that and therefore became the actual last drink for the weekend. The flight was great as it felt like it was only 15 mins.

24 hours later, we were back home in Cambridge.