Clonakilty: Charming County Cork

We talk here about Clonakilty, one of the first Irish towns we visited and one that keeps us returning again and again. The food and drink, the markets and shops, the history and culture, and more. 

We also discuss some of our favorite sightseeing in the surrounding countryside, including remote lighthouses, ancient stone circles, and beautiful beaches. 

We also tell stories: an ancient monastery with a well that cures warts; a goat that smoked cigarettes; and the sausage that nearly caused a riot.

And we even arranged and recorded new Ireland-themed music for this episode: Matt's jazz waltz arrangement of Danny Boy.  

Sláinte!

Want to know more about us and our travel services? Find us at:

www.LittleRoadsEurope.com

www.facebook.com/LittleRoadsEurope

We craft small-town driving itineraries for travelers to Italy, Ireland and Scotland.

And our "alter-egos" as musicians:

www.OrsiniVirtuosi.it

Transcript

Note: This is not a complete transcript, but rather the show notes we write in advance to prepare for the episode. 

INTRO: 

Welcome to Little Roads Unfiltered: Italy and Beyond

Today we’re talking about one of our favorite towns and areas in Ireland… 

Among other things, you’ll hear about…:

- an ancient monastery with a well that cures warts

- a goat that smoked cigarettes 

- the sausage that nearly caused a riot 

This is Matt Walker          …and I’m Zeneba Bowers - 

We’re recording while sitting on the terrace of our tiny home in Italy - so you’ll get a sense of the sounds of life in our little town. We want this to be more like a casual conversion with us, rather than a scripted studio session - complete with church bells, cats meowing, motor scooters and trains and the town’s daily siren, and maybe the occasional clink of our drinks. 

“ … in today’s chat we’ll be talking about Clonakilty, in the heart of Ireland's County Cork - here on Little Roads Unfiltered: Italy and Beyond.”

For those of you who don’t know us: We are professional musicians and also travel writers and consultants, living and working here in Italy for the past 6 years. 

If you want to learn more about us and our lives, you can find us on our website LittleRoadsEurope.com, on our socials, and now here on our new podcast, which we’re going to do unedited, as if you’re sitting here chatting with us - 

…and that’s new bumper music - Matt arranged Danny Boy in that “not exactly Irish” style… we recorded it right here in our house a couple of days ago. 

Since we’re musicians working here in Italy, we thought that would be a fun and sensible addition to our show.

So let’s get to talking about Clonakilty!

County Cork is Ireland's largest county, in the southwest - foodie county, with rugged cliffs on its coastlines, and farmland in its interior. Farm shops, long growing season

Clonakilty as a foodie and music town, used as a base for ourselves and our clients for years. Keep coming back.

Easily walkable, and colorful buildings cheery even in the rain

Clonakilty very famous for its black pudding and “riot”. Explain black and white pudding

Secret recipe for 100 years. From Johanna O’Brien, who gave it to Philip Harrington. Twomey bought the shop in 1976 and inherited the recipe.  Recipe is secret, but we know it is made with beef instead of pork, and has a low blood content, which is why it is so crumbly. 

How people could use that as a marker in other parts of Ireland for a good restaurant 

Union Hall smoked Salmon 

Lettercollum Kitchen Project, used to be downtown, now outside of town

Used to be a shop, now cooking classes and cooking holidays

Clonakilty Homemade Ice cream 

Compare cider in Ireland vs US 

Beer of the area - Murphy’s stout instead of Guinness

Clonakilty Farmers market FRIDAYS - lead into story about the guy who sold us the cider 

(This is intro to our Ireland guidebook, found on our site)

Talk about buying secondhand clothes as a great way to buy a cheap but meaningful souvenir and tell the story of finding the beautiful handknit sweater for 10euro in Clonakilty. Other woman wanted to buy it, but Matt pointed out it was a woman's sweater and was going to buy it for his mom with this purse, so the other buyer fucked off 

Great way to get something that maybe was actually made in Ireland, unlike a lot of wool products now 

— “ADVERTISEMENT” BREAK —

That reminds me that we need to stop for a word from our sponsor - - - - 

- - - just kidding, we don’t have any sponsors - and we’re not looking for any either, we want to keep this an ad-free show.

So today’s show is brought to you by: A Good Idea. 

And today’s Good Idea is: 

Buy stuff used instead of new... 

That’s it!

… So anyway, where were we?

Clonakilty: also famous for music: 

DeBarras folk club: A great place for music and like a little Museum in itself, talk about when we go there. We always sit for several hours and chat at the bar 

Lots of band memorabilia: Jimmy Hendrix’ bassist Noel Redding lived there, later formed band “Clonakilty Cowboys”

- the poster in the bar.: 

The sinking of the Lusitania (May 1915, 1 year into WWI) 

Cannot visit the site of the Lusitania because it is on private property and a golf course which was a big hullabaloo in the area 

Great demonstration of how public art keeps historical events alive.

A couple of things outside Clonakilty in the area: 

Kilbrittain Whale - intact whale skeleton, mounted on display outside in a parking lot

Timoleague Friary - one of many ruins of ancient monasteries/friaries in Ireland, we love to visit: Posted sign warning against grave-robbing, “holy well” inside that cures warts 

Drombeg Stone circle 

Owenahincha Beach 

We find white sand beaches to walk on all over the country to include in our itineraries because we go there and spend several hours walking the beach ourselves 

From Owenahincha you can see Galley Head

Galley Head lighthouse - 

We've stayed at lots of lighthouses in Ireland, this may be our favorite 

Gerald Butler: the book he wrote - The Lightkeeper - story about the smoking goat 

We have sent many clients there to stay and to visit the lighthouse 

OUTRO: 

I think that’s a good place to wrap it up here - These are just a few of countless spots that we love in and around Clonakilty, which is itself just one town in one County of Ireland - 

We hope you enjoyed joining us for our chat! 

We’ll be talking about a wide variety of topics here on this podcast, from travel tips to slice-of-life stories - we’ll post a new episode every Tuesday. 

So catch us next time - we’ll see you down the Little Roads… SLAINTE!