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CORK |
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Old CORK city - the second city of the Republic - is built on an
island, the two channels of the River Lee embracing it either side while
nineteenth-century suburbs sprawl up the surrounding hills. This gives
the city centre a compactness and sharp definition. It's a place of
great charm, with a history of vigorous intellectual independence, and
approached from rural Ireland, it has a surprisingly cosmopolitan feel
to it.
Evidence of Cork's history as a great mercantile centre is everywhere,
with grey stone quaysides, old warehouses and elegant and quirky bridges
spanning the river. Many of the city's streets were at one time
waterways: St Patrick's Street had quays for sailing ships, and on the
pavement in Grand Parade you can still see moorings dating from the
eighteenth century. Important port though Cork may be, however, it
doesn't feel overridingly commercial, and the Lee is certainly not the
river of an industrial town. The all-pervading presence of its waters
reflects and seems to double any light, so that even on the cloudiest of
days there is a balmy, translucent quality to the atmosphere which
effects a calm on the visitor. Cork is a welcoming, friendly place.
While it has the vibrancy to enliven and excite, the pace is always
Irish and somehow the island breathes enough space for all temperaments
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