Things to do in Cork City
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English Market
Cork picnickers are a fortunate bunch. The wonderful market is a self-caterer's paradise with so many tasty delicacies to choose from it's hard to show restraint. The emphasis is on local produce, with cheeses, ham, buttered eggs, sausages, bread and smoked salmon on offer, but there are some imports such as olives and wine too.
If you have cooking facilities, the fresh-fish sellers will tell you exactly what to buy and how to cook it. Otherwise, perch at stall-side counters or take your lunch to Bishop Lucey Park, a popular alfresco eating spot.
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Cornstore
Bustling and buzzy day and night, this modern restaurant has a swish bar, where you can enjoy creative cocktails while waiting for a table. Some tables are minute, but if you're having the amazing house special of lobster hold out for a large one so your elbows and shells can fly. There's also excellent fresh fish, steaks and pasta.
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Lewis Glucksman Gallery
This award-winning gallery in the grounds of University College Cork (UCC) is a startling limestone, steel and timber construction that was the most visible symbol of Corkonian optimism when it opened in 2004. Not even severe flood damage to its basement storage rooms in November 2009 has dampened its sense of purpose, which is to display the best in both national and international contemporary art and installation. If you're in town, don't miss the free fortnightly curatorial tours; the website has details. The gallery's situation in the university grounds means it's always buzzing with people coming to attend lectures, view the artwork or procrastinate in the cafe.
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Farmgate Café
On a mezzanine overlooking part of the market is one of Cork’s best eateries. Farmgate Café is an unmissable experience. Like its sister restaurant in Midleton, this cafe has mastered the magic art of producing delicious meals without fuss or faddism. The food, from rock oysters to the lamb for an Irish stew, is sourced from the market below. There are tables but the best seats are at the balcony counter, where you can ponder the passing parade of shoppers. We still have memories of the seafood chowder and the raspberry crumble.
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Cork City Gaol
Faint-hearted souls may find this imposing former prison a little grim, but it's certainly worth a visit, if only to get a sense of how crap life was for prisoners a century ago. An audio tour guides you around the restored cells, which feature models of suffering prisoners and sadistic-looking guards. It's very moving, bringing home the harshness of the 19th-century penal system. The most common crime was that of poverty; many of the inmates were sentenced to hard labour for stealing loaves of bread.
The prison closed in 1923, reopening in 1927 as a radio station, so the Governor's House has been converted into the Radio Museum Experience. Alongside collections of beautif…
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Currans
A retirement home for Cork's unwanted fixtures and fittings, Currans' interior is entirely made up of artefacts salvaged from the city's demolished buildings. The wood panelling comes from the GPO, the radiators from Linville Hospital, even the lift is reclaimed from the tax office. The menu is a similar hotch-potch of reliable favourites - pizzas, burgers, seafood and steaks - and there's a delightful rooftop terrace if you ever tire of the interior.
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Market Lane
It's always hopping at this bright corner bistro with an open kitchen. Service is quick and attentive, but you may want to pause at the long wooden bar anyway. The menu is broad, and changes often to reflect what's fresh: how about braised ox cheekstew to challenge the palate? Steaks come with awesome aioli. The €10 lunch menu, with half a sandwich, soup and tea or coffee, is a steal. Lots of wines by the glass.
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Ivory Tower
Hiding behind an unpromisingly shabby entrance is this delightfully eclectic place done up like a granny's parlour - albeit a granny whose tastes run to upright pianos, safari hats and moon-and-star motifs. The menu is equally intriguing - chef Seamus O'Connell's 'missions' to Japan having influenced the accomplished cuisine, and few concessions are made to the timid (the speciality is blackened shark with banana ketchup).
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Jacques Restaurant
With almost three decades in the business, Jacqueline and Eithne Barry have built up a terrific network of local suppliers to help them realise their culinary ambitions – the freshest Cork food cooked simply. The menu, served in an elegant dining room, changes daily: we loved the fennel risotto with beef short ribs. Clattering dishes in the upstairs kitchen echo down this spot's tiny lane.
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Boqueria
The flavours of Spain shine (even if the sun doesn't) at this ever-popular tapas bar. In addition to the usual onion-garlic-tomato combinations, the chefs use local creations, such as sourdough, Gubbeen cheese and salmon, to create tasty Irishified tapas. It's a dusky, intimate spot, favoured by couples in the evenings, and at lunch by friends seeking a civilised glass of wine.
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Hi-B
Up a dingy flight of stairs, tiny Hi-B is one of Cork's most idiosyncratic pubs, in no small part thanks to landlord Brian O'Connell. If you've never been thrown out of a pub and think you've missed out, try getting out your mobile here. Or ordering a soft drink. Or looking at Brian in a 'funny' way. There's jazz on the piano on Wednesday nights to add to the entertainment.
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Curraheen Greyhound Park
Curraheen Greyhound Park is one of the country’s poshest stadiums. Greyhound racing is big news in Ireland, particularly with families. There are 10 races a night, plus a restaurant, bar and live music to keep you entertained in between. Curraheen is 5.5km from the centre; to get there, take bus 8. A free bus drops you back between 10.30pm and 12.30am.
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St Anne’s Church
Shandon is dominated by the 1722 St Anne’s Church, aka the ‘Four-Faced Liar’, so called as each of the tower’s four clocks used to tell a different time. Wannabe campanologists can ring the bells on the 1st floor of the 1750 Italianate tower and continue the 132 steps up to the top for 360-degree views of the city.
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Holy Trinity Church
The Holy Trinity Church was designed by the Pain brothers in 1834 in the honour of Father Theobald Mathew. He was one of Cork’s most famous figures, the ‘Apostle of Temperance’, who went on a short-lived crusade against alcohol in the 1830s and 1840s – a quarter of a million people took the ‘pledge’, and whiskey production halved.
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Old Butter Market
Cork had the largest butter market in the world during the 1860s, exporting butter as far as India, South America and Australia. The Butter Exchange was in Shandon and you can still spot dairy motifs throughout the area: look out for the cow above the old butter market, which was being used as a souvenir centre but is now closed.
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Les Gourmandises
Remember those beautiful fresh fish you saw in the English Market? Many of them end up at this cute little restaurant that reminds you of that perfect place you stumbled upon in Paris once… The talented kitchen turns out an array of local fish, and meats also get their due: the rack of lamb is a perennial fave. Service is gracious and calm.
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Idaho Café
It looks like a traditional old caff from the outside, but take a gander at the menu and you'll find all sorts of creative takes on Irish standards. The tea selection includes scads of herbal numbers and there's a good per-glass wine menu. Tight seating means nothing is private. Idaho Café makes a good place to regroup while touring or shopping.
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Beamish & Crawford Brewery
This famous brewery is the most ancient porter brewery in Ireland. Beer drinkers will love the well presented tours that end with a few rounds of the famous Beamish brews. The brewery is hard to miss as it is across the road from the Counting House, a building that takes first prize for eye-blinding, mock Tudor, architectural awfulness.
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Quay Co-op
A gathering spot for the People's Republic of Cork proletariat, this nonflash cafe offers a range of self-service vegie options (all organic), including big breakfasts, hearty soups and casseroles. There's daily specials; dishes cater for gluten-, dairy- and wheat-free needs. The bulletin board has news for and of the masses.
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Crawford Municipal Art Gallery
Cork's public gallery houses a small but excellent permanent collection covering the 17th century to the modern day. Highlights include works by Sir John Lavery, Jack B Yeats, Nathaniel Hone and a room devoted to Irish women artists from 1886 to 1978 – don't miss the works by Mainie Jellet and Evie Hone.
The Sculpture Galleries contain snow-white plaster casts of Roman and Greek statues, given to King George IV by the pope in 1822. George didn't like the gift and stuck the sculptures in the cellar until someone suggested that Cork might appreciate them.
The downstairs exhibition hall hosts superior temporary displays.
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Franciscan Well Brewery
The copper vats gleaming behind the bar give the game away: the Franciscan Well brews its own beer. The best place to enjoy it is in the enormous beer garden at the back. The pub holds regular beer festivals with other small (and often underappreciated) Irish breweries – check the website for details.
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Sin É
You could easily while away an entire day at this great old place, which is every thing a craic-filled pub should be. There are no frills or fuss here – just a comfy, sociable pub, long on atmosphere and short on pretension. There's music most nights, much of it traditional, but with the odd surprise.
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National Radio Museum
The Natioanl Radio Museum is upstairs in the Cork City Gaol. The prison closed in 1923, reopening in 1927 as a radio station. The change of use is reflected in the museum where, alongside collections of beautiful old radios, you can hear the story of Guglielmo Marconi’s conquest of the airwaves.
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St Fin Barre's Cathedral
Spiky spires, gurning gargoyles and rich sculpture make up the exterior of Cork's Protestant cathedral, an attention-grabbing mixture of French Gothic and medieval whimsy. Local legend says that the golden angel on the eastern side will blow its horn when the Apocalypse is due to start… Yikes!
The grandeur continues inside, with marble floor mosaics, a colourful chancel ceiling and a huge pulpit and bishop's throne. Quirky items on display include a cannonball blasted into an earlier medieval spire during the Siege of Cork (1690).
Most of the ostentation is the result of a competition, held in 1863, to choose an architect for the building. William Burges was the hands-dow…
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Star Anise
Fresh and creative cooking is the hallmark at this narrow little shopfront bistro. There are steaks for the masses but also treats like tiger prawns on chickpea salad and a killer vegetarian lasagne. The wine list is both superb and affordable. Three-course dinner specials are a fine deal at €29.
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