Clonakilty Round 2

I finished my stay in Rosscarbery and moved onto Clonakilty for a night. It was Monday night trad music at De Barra's, and I really wanted to experience Clon in the day, so I spent the night at O'Donovan's Hotel right in town.  I'm not going to lie to you; I really like this town, and the more I learn about it, the more I like it.

Clon

Clonakilty is home to Michael Collins, one of the leaders of the final movement for Irish Independence, beginning with the Easter Rising in 1916. Since this is the centennial, every town is apparently celebrating in some way.  Clon still has historic architecture, and the people take a lot of pride in the town. There's a life in Clonakilty that I haven't found in other parts of Ireland (but I've only visited 4 or 5 other towns, to be fair).

 Guys! I went to Tuesday morning Mass in Clon, and there were 100 people there. They were really respectful of the quiet space, as well. They had a public Rosary before Mass and many people remained to pray afterwards. Check out this prayer we all prayed at the beginning.

Also, the singing. Check out this song; they sang it at the end with their beautiful, clear Irish voices.

Wouldn't you know, International Guitar Festival  organizer Chris is also a bartender at De Barra's, Small town! He paid for my cheaper beer because he said the Clonakilty Smuggler (porter) craft beer I ordered was pricey. How nice! Also, craft beer is a thing here. Like a huge thing. I mentioned that in my last post, I think. Apparently, some of the bigger brands are buying up the rising micro-breweries, and bars are required to have a name brand beer of the parent company on tap if they also have an Irish microbeer (which could be a contributing factor as to why you'll see Coors Light on tap in Irish pubs).

When I described my route for my Irish journey to the bar (maybe four people at this point in the night), one old guy told me that I must see Fungie. I asked him what that meant, and he said that it's a fish, and that I have to see it. I looked at his wife, and she told me I needed to go out on a boat and that they were from Dingle. Then they just kind of walked out. I looked back at the couple from Florida and Chris and asked them what that was about. Chris explained, "Fungie is a dolphin, and I was skeptical when I went out on the boat with a film crew one time, but it's awesome. I mean, when you see this dolphin, you automatically become a kid again." Maybe I'll do it.

SPOILER ALERT!

FUNGIE 3 days later

Anyways, there was a group of about 12 people from the Basque region of Spain in De Barra's for trad music, and what a cool evening that made it! The musicians typically ask the bar if there is anyone who wants to sing trad songs while they play, but when it came to the Basque women, the musicians obviously didn't know the songs. We all just listened in awe as these ladies sang beautiful harmonies, sometimes with movements, from their homeland. Interestingly enough, this group was in town because, according to another guy in the bar, one of the women was married to an IRA fellow who was killed in Clon 20 years ago.  There was a memorial for him in town this week, and I'm not sure if this was an entire family who came in for it, but it was such a treat to have them serenade us at the bar!

De Barra's

People write a lot of things down for me...