Recently Mallow ARA visited Blackrock Castle Observatory. We had a wonderful day on a tour of the dungeon which is not really a dungeon but was the armoury when the castle was defending Cork Harbour in the old days but is at the base of the castle as you would expect.We got to this by means of a narrow spiral staircase. Next we we walked up a total of a hundred steps of spiral staircase to the battlements where we had a fabulous view, upwards to the city, down to the mouth of the harbour and inland to some really nice properties and greenery. Unfortunately the view opposite was not so nice being Tivoli docks so full of ugly containers.Then we had a look around the observatory and had a film and talk about the stars and planets.Frances who gave the talk was absolutely fantastic with her knowledge and enthusiasm and answered many questions from our group.She was able to zoom in on various stars etc. It was interesting to see the Southern Cross, The Milky Way, the Plough, the Bears, Sirius, Mars, Neptune etc and to hear about space travel, falling stars and many more interesting facts. Well worth a visit! There is also a lovely cafe there.
Afterwards we went to Mahon Point shopping centre for a bit of retail therapy.
In the Dungeon
Photos Michael Stubbs
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