Located just a short drive from us here at the Fota Island Resort Hotel Cork, the area of Cobh and the tourist attraction of Spike Island have been making the news!
Spike Island located in Cork Harbour, which is the second largest natural harbour in the world, is a multi-cultural island that has hosted a monastery, a fortress and a prison within its 104 acres, all of which have left their mark and continue to do so, as a recent project by UCC that aims to understand more about the men and boys who were incarcerated and died in the prison during the Victorian era took place.
As a mark of the hard work and their contribution to Cork, the group of archaeology students who spent a month living on Spike Island whilst examining and excavating the 19th century prison buildings, and the area that is thought to have been the convict burial ground, were presented with Cork Rebel passports by County Mayor, Councillor Noel O’Connor.
The diverse team of 30 international and local archaeology students that carried out valuable research into the lives of convicts that were imprisoned on Spike Island between 1847-1883 consisted of Americans, Canadians, French, Polish and Irish, and was lead by Dr Barra O’Donnabhain from the Archaeology Department at UCC.
Also making the news thanks to the new Tourism Ireland “Flavours of Ireland” online film is Cobh.
These new online film showcase the wonderful food of Ireland and the passions of the local producers and chef, introducing different artisan producers and telling the story of various products from the sea or field to the plate, and the first film showcases the neighbour of our hotel near Cobh, the Belvelly Smokehouse in Cobh.
Featuring the Belevelly Smokehouse artisan producer Frank Hederman, who represents just one of the many traditional smokehouse producers around the island of Ireland, the short online film joins Frank as he takes the viewer on a journey around Cobh and gives a real insight into the age-old smoking techniques used to produce his delicious smoked salmon as well as passing tips on the best way to hold a salmon!
This film series titled “Flavours of Ireland” by Tourism Ireland are already whetting the appetite of food lovers from around the world who are interested in learning more about our nutritious home-grown produce and to visiting Ireland to enjoy the delicious dishes that are available throughout the country and no more so than in our restaurants in Cork, which are known for showcasing the very best in local produce!
