i tell them "1601, kinsale." that was a huge shock for the english.this perfect harbor of kinsale on their doorstep. to rule the waves, they had to secure the harbor, and they invested in this enormous fort, charles fort. star fort, state-of-the-art, 17th century, huge. for 400 years, this fort was one of the principal strongholds of britain in controlling ireland. 1,000 troops were based here until 1922. ireland became independent of britain, and britain finally gave it back to us. the fort itself is designed as a star fort, it's called, because it has points like points on a star, and the idea of the star fort, its construction, was that from within your own walls, like here, you could always fire on your own outer walls, over there, for example. if they were attacking us here, they could be fired upon from within the fort from that wall. yeah, so it's a crossfire idea. whether i'm leading tours, researching my guidebooks, or just having fun on my own, i grab every opportunity to get local advice on good places to eat. in ireland, people make time t