Our stop for the day was Cobh (pronounced Cove) and boy did we get a warm welcome. The town has a tradition that when the Round the World cruise stops by, they breakout the Aussie flags and celebrate Australian Day.

Cobh has a long association with emigrants leaving Ireland as well as being a departure point for convicts bound for Australia . While depressing, one of the activities the town organised was a blessing of the bonnets ceremony. Linked to the broader Roses from the Heart memorial, which pays tribute to the 25,566 convict women transported to Australia from Ireland and Britain between 1788 and 1853. A bonnet for each of these women has been made and the bonnets made by the people of Cobh remember the women and children aboard the Neva that was shipwrecked off King Island.

The town had also organised live entertainment on their foreshore and some of the shops near the port had participated in an Australian themed shop window decorating competition – entries included a fake Dame Edna Everage model and several Australian stuffed animals.

We decided to make a quick trip into Cork to have a look at the town before return back to Cobh for the remainder of the afternoon.

Cork began as a settlement near the mouth of the River Lee . Over the years the settlement was attacked and burned several times by Vikings, who also later came back to settle and trade.

After getting off the train we wandered into the centre of town and had a look at the English Market – mainly a fresh food market. The rest of morning was spent wandering around and after making a couple of purchases, we caught the train back to Cobh.

One of the more imposing structures that sits above Cobh is St Colman's Cathedral. The cathedral took 50 years to build and was designed in the French Neo Gothic style. The spire is 91 metres tall and contains a 49 bell carillon.

As the last stop on her ill fated transatlantic voyage, Cobh also has a memorial to the Titanic, as well as a museum which gives visitors a better understanding of what it would have been like on the ship and what happened. The memorial was unveiled in 1998, with the youngest survivor present at the ceremony.

Almost next to the Titanic memorial, there is a memorial to the Lusitania. This particular memorial is dedicated to the people who lost their lives when the ship was torpedoed and subsequently sunk just off the coast in 1915. Many of the survivors as well as the victims were bought to Cobh.

Lunch was once again had a local pub and once again the food and service was lovely. Everyone was very obliging and in good spirits.

On our way back towards the ship, we stopped in at another pub. Having eaten a large lunch, I couldn’t eat or drink another thing. Mum however had some room and had her last Guinness and Irish coffee on Irish soil.

While the whole day had been great, the highlight was having the town band play us out of the port. It was first time we had been given a proper farewell and most of the passengers were lining the outside decks to take photos and listen to the band.

After clearing the port and safely disembarking the ship pilot, it was time to settle into our five day transit across the Atlantic. Judging by the weather we experienced just after leaving the safety of the harbour, it could get a little bit bumpy.

Fun fact:
The local real estate agent was trying to see Uluru, the Byron Bay Lighthouse and several other Australian icons.