Cork is a city with a chip on its shoulder and the right to wear it. Here are some things visitors usually do not know about the second-largest city in Ireland.
1. Cork was an island
The original medieval city was built on an actual island in the river Lee. Two channels of the river encircled the centre, and several streets in the city, including South Mall and Patrick's Street, are built over filled-in waterways.
2. The English Market is over 230 years old
The English Market on Princes Street has been trading continuously since 1788. The Spice Market, the meat hall and the fish counter have not moved much in two centuries. Queen Elizabeth visited in 2011 and famously laughed at one of the fishmongers' jokes.
3. You can ring the Shandon bells yourself
The bells of St Anne's, on Shandon, are open to visitors. Pay a few euro at the door and you can climb the tower and ring the bells yourself, with a chart of tunes provided. Cork residents can hear what tune the visitors are attempting from streets away and they are not always polite about it.
4. The Titanic sailed from Cork
Cobh, then called Queenstown, was the Titanic's last port of call before its Atlantic crossing in April 1912. 123 passengers boarded at Cobh. The Titanic Experience Cobh, in the original White Star Line ticket office, lets you follow the story of those passengers in particular.
5. The Lee runs through the centre, twice
The river Lee splits into two channels just before reaching Cork city, runs around the central island, then rejoins near the customs house. Locals call the two arms the North Channel and the South Channel. There are 26 bridges across them.
6. Cork accent linguists travel to study it
The Cork city accent has its own intonation pattern, with rising pitches at the ends of statements where most English dialects fall. Phonetic researchers have written PhD theses about it. Most of the rest of Ireland just finds it funny.
7. The smallest English-language Beamish brewery is in the Quad
Murphy's and Beamish, the city's two stouts, are both still brewed in Cork. Beamish has been on its current site since 1792. The University College Cork campus has a small in-house pub that has at various times brewed its own version on the premises.
8. Cork has its own language island
The Muskerry Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking area, sits about thirty kilometres west of the city around Ballyvourney and Ballingeary. It is the second-largest Gaeltacht after the one in Connemara.
9. Cobh has the second largest natural harbour in the world
Cobh harbour, technically Cork Harbour, is reckoned to be the second-largest natural harbour on the planet by navigable area, after Sydney. Whether the claim quite stands up to scrutiny is debated, but it is more than big enough to be impressive.
10. The opera house has had four buildings on the same site
The Cork Opera House on Emmet Place is on its fourth iteration. The previous one burned down in 1955 and the current building, by architect Michael Scott, opened in 1965. It still hosts opera, panto and most touring shows that come to Munster.