We had the luck of the Irish today in Cobh. The clouds moved to the west as we sailed in from the east and we saw nothing of the water-filled weather for which Ireland is famous. Cobh has a long history of being the last port of call for ships sailing to foreign shores, laden with Irish looking for a brighter future elsewhere. The most famous departure being the Titanic, passengers boarded here for her last fateful voyage. The Cobh Heritage Center is a great place to learn about many of these vessels, and to really get a feel for the poor conditions that many endured on the voyages.
Walking through the rest of town there are many monuments to the passengers that lost their lives- a stark reminder that not all are as fortunate as we are on National Geographic Explorer.
The sun remained with us for our athletic afternoon where we were introduced to hurling, the national sport of Ireland. Our cultural immersion concluded with a pint of Irish gold (in the form of Guinness, Murphy’s, or cider) to lubricate toe tapping to the fabulous traditional music of The Rolling Wave.
