Wordless Wednesday : My City Streets!

Cork City streets after a shower of rain

Peace and Tranquility by the Lake

Peaceful lake Gougane

Gougane Barra Forest Park, in West Cork, is the source of the River Lee, which is 90 km in length, and flows through the valleys of mid Cork to Cork city and onwards to Cork Harbour where it joins the sea.

Gougane Barra is also where St. Finbarr, the founder of Cork, established a monastery in the 6th century.  He had a hermitage on a small island in the lake, the remains of which can still be seen, and the little church that still stands is a very popular place for weddings.

Gougane Barra church

There are lots of walks in the park itself, to suit all classes of walkers, and even on a misty day, it’s a peaceful place,as you can see from the gallery below.

Part of the old monastic cells.

Old Mass stone

Photography 101 : Home

Home is elusive. When we think about this word, we might picture different physical locations. And while home is often found on a map, it can also be less tangible: a loved one, a state of mind.

 

For my first entry for Photography 101, here is a photo of my home town – a view of Cork Harbour looking up towards Cork City. Welcome to my home, and I hope you come and visit again.

Cork City on the River Lee

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge : Buildings

I have come across some very different buildings when looking through my virtual shoe boxes – like this beautiful photo of the pyramid at the Louvre, all glass and metal and sparkling with the sun shining on it, and a big contrast to the old stately buildings behind it.

The glass pyramid outside the Louvre

Paris and the Louvre is very different from my next building, a sad neglected house in the older part of Cork City

Sad and alone

There are also some modern, well loved, buildings in the heart of the city.

City Hall bridge

have a look at some more buildings over at Cee’s great blog

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge : Metal

The ever resourceful Cee has come up with a new series of challenges, and this week the theme is Metal or the Autumn Season.

I live near Cork City, a very old city of many bridges because the river Lee splits in to two channels before it runs through the city, and then joins up into one channel again as it runs in to Cork Harbour.    It is no wonder tourists get confused to find that there is not one, but two, channels of the  river to the north and south of the city, and it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘Meet you by the river’!

One of the bridges spanning the (north channel) of the Lee is Daly’s Bridge, this is a pedestrian bridge, and is the only suspension bridge over the river.   It is known locally as the Shakey Bridge, as the  bridge moves when someone runs or jumps on the wooden platform. The bridge is mainly wrought iron, and was built in 1926.   It connects a suburb known as Sunday’s Well with the main city park,  Fitzgerald’s Park.

The bridge is even painted white, so it fits perfectly with Cee’s Challenge.

The Shakey Bridge

The metal bridge at dusk

Detail of the bridge

Water, Water Everywhere : Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Water is everywhere – well maybe there is not so much of it in the Sahara desert – but it is most necessary for all of us to survive.   Our doctors keep telling us to drink water, our gardens and flowers and vegetables need it to thrive and grow,and looking at rivers and lakes has a calming effect on us all.  Here are a few watery shots!

The Zambezi River near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

 

Dolomite mountains, Italy

Reflections in still waters, Norway

The River Lee in Cork City

Cork City

Flowing Swiftly Along – The River Lee!

The River Lee and the old Our Lady’s Hospital

The River Lee flows through Cork City before it joins the ocean at Cork Harbour, and these photos taken today at the western end, just before the city, show that the river is still pretty full from all the recent rains, and there are still a few stumps of trees trapped in the weir.

The weir before the Waterworks

Strolling by the river

Looking across the river to Shanakiel

Abandoned : Weekly Photo Challenge

Barrack Street, Cork

The old house above in the older part of Cork City, has fallen into disrepair and has lots of slates missing, so I would imagine that the owners have long since abandoned the house, especially in winter, when the wind is howling down through the roof.

Abandoned house, Curragh Woods, Midleton

The second picture is of the ruins of an old cottage in the middle of Curragh Woods,   This old cottage has a well nearby where the occupants would have had running water, but the only way in to the cottage would have been to climb up through the woods from the main road.    The people who lived there used to work on the neighbouring farms, but in the days before electricity it would have been a cold dreary place in winter, though there was no shortgage of firewood to keep them warm.

Wordless Wednesday : The Lady of the Lamp!

A light in the darkness!

A Nostalgic Walk around the City

Some of the old buildings around Cork City have been around for ever.    A lot of them I remember from my school days, though sadly most of them are not used for the same purposes they were in those days.    Still the old names remain, to bring back memories.

The Savoy Cinema, was probably one of the first cinema houses in Cork, and I remember the excitement of going there every year when the Cork Film Festival was on, and us teenagers stood at the side of the red carpet and watched in awe as glamorous  film stars alighted from the limousines and the camera bulbs flashed…our own taste of Hollywood or Cannes!   I can’t remember what film stars we saw, I am sure they were rich and famous at the time, though.  The Savoy building still stands, with shops on the ground floor, and discos and live bands still appear there, but sadly no more red carpet or movie stars.

Savoy Cinema

Across the road from the Savoy were two of the biggest shops in Cork – Cashs (now Brown Thomas) and Roches Stores (now Debenhams), everyone in Cork city and county, and in many surrounding counties, came to the city specially to meet up and shop in these shops.     Along with the Munster Arcade and the Queens Old Castle, these were the 4 main department stores at the time.

Then there were the hotels, the Imperial on the South Mall and  the Metropole on McCurtain Street, both still going, and the Victoria Hotel on Patricks Street, now closed, but the name is still there

And in those days of high unemployment, I am sure everyone remembers the Labour Exchange, where you had to sign on every week to get a few bob.    I don’t know whose offices are there now, but it is in good condition, if only those walls could talk, they saw a lot of people going through the doors every week.