Farewell to West Cork

The view from freespiral's conservatory into the lush garden -- truly a petit coin de paradis. We were even graced with a visit from Fergal yesterday evening; padding up here and waiting to be served his dinner.

Departure day today. I am so grateful to freespiral and Himself for their help. Himself went well beyond the call of duty and kindly drove the beast of a hire car to Cork airport. Here we dropped it off and took a taxi, first to drop Himself off at the bus station, and then to my AirBnB. My hostess Margaret was warmly welcoming, offering me a full refund if I thought I couldn't manage the stairs. She carried my cases up for me and we then had a good chat over cups of tea. Irish people seem to live up to their stereotype of loving to talk!

At this point I realised I'd failed to make a plan for lunch and it was too difficult to go in search of it, so I decided to save my appetite for the evening. Meanwhile I'd have dearly liked to explore Cork city, but ended up spending the afternoon lying around resting my leg and reading, before another taxi trip to Cafe Paradiso, as recommended by freespiral. I'm happy to report that I experienced none of the nonsense Arachne did as a lone woman in Spain; the waiter was charming and unpromptedly provided an extra chair to rest my leg on. Delicious morsels of vegetarian food to top off my week of veggie eating. One of those restaurants that manage to combine multiple distinct flavours without it being a big mess. Special mention for the starter involving roast carrots and Irish mozzarella among other elements, and also the crème fraiche tart with raspberries. Since I wasn't driving, I indulged in a fabulous Australian orange muscat with this -- a great combination.  The waiter called a taxi for me, and oddly enough it turned out to be the same Moldavian driver who had brought me. Maybe Cork doesn't have many taxi drivers.

More travel tomorrow! Looking forward to getting it over with and being back home.