What's the craic?

As I stated in my profile 'I like doing many things. Just cannot decide what I like best!' - which is true. One of those things would be walking. But! I don't like walking around with no purpose, I get bored really easily, so either trail has to be challenging or view at least slightly interesting :)

Despite appearances, my requirements are very easy to meet. So park, beach, or a hill that pretends to be a mountain ;) – that's all fine by me:)

Way to go

But from time to time I need little bit more - a vacant lot, a bushy, forgotten reserve, some ruins or a botanical garden with some exotic species.

Sometimes I just have to go to a place that asks me to take out my camera, because the memory, although still good, will not stay that way for long :)

A few times a year - or as often as time allows - I visit my brother in Cork (Republic of Ireland). For those of you who are little bit curious - few very subjective observations on my part and a handful of facts.

City Cork - for passionate vagabonds and hedonistic food lovers

Cork is a clean and very friendly city to all walkers. At the same time, it's also very friendly to those who like to sit down - it's a absolute munching paradise - everywhere you look - cafes, restaurants, stalls selling local cheeses or handmade chocolates. The English Market is a must for any food -enthusiast - it's the oldest market of its kind in Europe! As I love to eat - I tried to walk around the city as quickly as possible to get away from the temptations lurking around every corner!

Cork is a city in the south of Ireland, on Lough Mahon on the Celtic Sea. The River Lee flows through the city, with its mouth in the local bay.

What I find interesting - the river's floodplains once formed a very extensive network of marshes in the area. Hence the name Corcach Mór Mumhan, or Great Munster Marshes. This in turn gave rise to Corcaigh, the Irish name for the city.

Today, Cork is the capital of the county of the same name and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork is about a two hour drive from Dublin(fast drive I should add ;)

Nature first

Whenever I visit my brother, he always finds a new place to go for a long walk. He also knows me well enough to choose places closer to nature and away from the crowds. This was the case this time. As I said, we walked quite quickly through the town. We passed St. Mary & Anne's Church, then the Butter Museum (no, I'm not kidding) and walked along the Lee River, then crossing Daly's Bridge (comonnly known as a Shakey Bridge) to our main destination - Fitzgerald Park.

The park is large, the trails wide. There are lots of beautiful old trees, sculptures, monuments, ponds and playgrounds.

But the most fun we had was meeting a grey heron - I even managed to get a video. The bird was completely unaffected by our presence or the camera's eye. Beautiful creature, isn't it?

In addition to the company of this beautiful bird, I was able to get some quite good shots of the water lilies, whose leaves filled the banks of the ponds tightly.

We were wondering about for two or so hours to finally collapse from exhaustion on the green grass and stare at the sky.