Cork

Cork city - the second city of the Republic - is built on an island, the two channels of the River Lee embracing it either side while nineteenth-century suburbs sprawl up the surrounding hills. This gives the city centre a compactness and sharp definition. It's a place of great charm, with a history of vigorous intellectual independence, and when approached from rural Ireland, it has a surprisingly cosmopolitan feel.

Evidence of Cork's history as a great mercantile centre is everywhere, with grey stone quaysides, old warehouses and elegant and quirky bridges spanning the river. Many of the city's streets were at one time waterways: St Patrick's Street had quays for sailing ships, and on the pavement in Grand Parade you can still see moorings dating from the eighteenth century. Important port though Cork may be, however, it doesn't feel overly commercial, and the Lee is certainly not the river of an industrial town. The all-pervading presence of its waters reflects the light, so that even on the cloudiest of days there is a balmy, translucent quality to the atmosphere.