2-Day Cork and Blarney Castle Rail Tour from Dublin

On arrival at Cóbh (pronounced: Cove), we will visit St Colman’s Cathedral. We will then proceed down along the sea front passing the former White Star Line offices en route to the beautifully restored Victorian railway station/transatlantic terminal. This is now the Cóbh Heritage Centre, home to the Queenstown Story to which your entrance is included. When Queen Victoria visited Ireland in 1849 she came to Cóbh and the town was renamed Queenstown in her honour –it was renamed Cóbh after Irish independence in 1922. Cóbh was of course the final port of call of the RMS Titanic and this theme is well expounded. The centre also houses much information about the Great Famine and subsequent Irish Emigration –3 million Irish people emigrated from Cóbh, (principally to the United States) including Annie Moore, whose statue is located in front of the heritage centre. The Lusitania was torpedoed off the coast of Cork –marking the United States’ entry to the First World War –and the small number of survivors were brought to Cóbh for refuge. Cóbh is also the headquarters of the Irish Navy and you will most likely see some navy ships.

We visit the historic Blarney Castle –built in 1446 by Dermot McCarthy. You will have time to kiss the famous stone, which is said to bestow the gift of eternal eloquence on those lucky enough to do so. There is also time for shopping and lunch at Blarney and we recommend that you have lunch there, as this will be the only opportunity during the day to have a substantial meal. You depart Blarney at 13:30 hrs approximately.

St. Colman’s Cathedral, overlooking Cobh is dedicated to St. Colman who founded the diocese in 560 A.D. Colman was a poet bard to the Court of the King of Munster, at Cashel in Tipperary. Influenced by St. Brendan and St. Ita, he left Palace life to become a priest. He received grants of land at Cloyne, on the eastern shore of Cork Harbour, from the King of Cashel. There he founded his monastery, traces of which still survive.