In preparation for our June 3rd 14-day Celtic Explorer cruise, I had researched the port of Bantry, a coastal town of 3,500 residents in southwest Ireland. It’s located at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep water, wind-sheltered harbor on the Atlantic Ocean with an interesting history, some of which is captured in 15 Interesting Facts About Bantry, Ireland.
Excited to visit, I also researched 8 Things to Do While Visiting Bantry, Ireland. A concern came up after realizing that cruise ships visiting Bantry Bay tendered their passengers to Glengarriff Harbor, a 10-mile drive to the town of Bantry.
While actually on the cruise, I was very excited to learn that our Prinsendam cruise ship tenders would deliver us directly to the town of Bantry via a brand new tender pier.
While there appeared to be some on-going construction, it turned out that the Prinsendam was the first cruise ship to arrive in Bantry’s Inner Harbor in 30 years.
Once on shore, we turned right, following the walking path to Bantry House toward the Cemetery of Bantry. The entrance to the Bantry House and Gardens was about a 20-min walk from the pier.
The Bantry House and Garden is one of the highlights of visiting Bantry. This is the ancestral home of the White family who became the Earls of Bantry.
A private estate still owned by descendants of the White family, tourists can visit the estate and the elaborate gardens. While photos are not allowed inside the house, it is interesting to explore via a self-guided tour, or the once-an-hour guided tour.
The Bantry House house features artworks gathered by the second Earl of Bantry and his wife Mary as they traveled across Europe. Their travels also inspired the extensive Bantry House gardens.
Exploring the town of Bantry
After exploring the gardens, the stable and the interior of the Bantry House, we walked back to downtown Bantry via a different, backroad route.
Our first stop in Bantry was at The Snug, an Irish pub right along the quay.
The cozy pub was exactly as pictured.
Our group was ready for their first beer of the day while sitting on bar stools at The Snug.
Properly, refreshed, we set out to explore more of Bantry.
We stopped in the robust tourist information office filled with helpful locals. It’s located near the Theobald Wolfe Tone statute in Bantry’s main square. The square commemorates Dublin-born Theobald Wolfe Tone, who led the United Irishmen in an uprising against British rule in Ireland.
On December 15th, 1796, a 50-ship French Armada headed to Bantry from Brest with thousands of men in support Tone. Due to heavy storms off the Irish coast, the French Armada never had a chance of landing in Bantry. As many as 10 ships sank. One of these, the ‘Surveillante’ remained on the bottom of Bantry Bay for almost 200 years. The French mission failed and the remaining seaworthy ships returned to France.
In 1981, the anchor from the French frigate “La Surveillante”– which sank in Bantry Bay in 1796 — was discovered and recovered. The 220+ year-old anchor is also on display in Bantry’s Wolf Tone square.
Our next stop was at the Box of Frogs Cafe and Bakery, where I enjoyed one of the world’s most Instagram-worthy lattes.
Continuing our exploration of Bantry, we walked uphill to reach the historic Mill Wheel that is part of the Bantry Library, designed in 1962 by architect Patrick McSweeney, and said to be one of Ireland’s most unusual examples of Modernist architecture.
We also climbed higher to reach St. Finbarr’s Church, which was built by Father Thomas Barry in 1825.
Working our way back downhill, we stopped into Ma Murphy’s, which has a little grocery store as you enter. This charming gentleman enticed us to enter the bar portion of Ma Murphy’s.
We found ourselves at the end of Ma Murphy’s Bar, drinking local Green Bullet beers and sampling local Irish whiskey along with a number of other cruise ship passengers and a few crew.
Bantry Bay is known for its mussel farming operations. At O’Connors Seafood Restaurant, I tried the mussels in Thai curry sauce, which were tasty, although I later heard that the local mussels were not currently in season. Regardless, O’Connors was a good choice for seafood.
As we headed back to the new tender dock, we saw this sign (pictured above) proclaiming that the Prinsendam was this firs cruise ship to call in Bantry’s Inner Harbor in 30 years. (The picture on the banner was of a different Holland America ship.) It was fun to be a part of a “first” cruise ship call directly into a small town working hard to promote its attractions.
As the rain moved into Bantry, we captured one last view of the town as we walked down to catch a Prinsendam tender boat back to the ship.
Have you sailed on Holland America’s ms Prinsendam? Do you have a favorite unique cruise port to visit?
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