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Cheerful SKIBBEREEN , smartly painted and set on the River Illen, is the main service and administrative centre for the south of west Cork. This traditional role is still remarkably alive: on Wednesdays the cattle market still operates, drawing crowds from the surrounding country, and every Friday afternoon there's the regular country market. For travellers, it's a good place to stock up or to stop over - there are plenty of supermarkets, a smattering of health-food shops and delis, and plenty of pubs. The West Cork ArtsCentre on North Street (Mon-Sat 10am-6pm) is worth checking out. It hosts monthly exhibitions which can be first-rate, stages occasional music and dance performances, and has a reference and slide library through which you can locate local artists. The heritage centre , on Upper Bridge Street (July to mid-Sept daily 10am-6pm; GBP3/?3.81) displays two very different exhibitions: "The Great Famine Commemorative Exhibition" offers a vivid and sobering account of the Famine of the 1840s: Skibbereen was particularly affected by the Famine and around 10,000 famine victims lie buried nearby. The second of the two exhibitions celebrates the abundant marine life of nearby Lough Hyne and sets out to explain the survival of a range of species - from corals, anemones and sea-squirts to goby-fish and sea slugs - this last found only here and in the Mediterranean Sea. The tourist office (June-Aug Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 10am-1pm & 2.15-6pm; Sept-May Mon-Fri 9.15am-5.30pm; tel 028/21766) is on North Street and will help with accommodation. For B&Bs Ilenroy House , 10 North St (tel 028/22751; GBP55-70/?69.84-88.88) and The Ivanhoe (tel 028/21749; GBP33-40/?41.90-50.79), further along at no. 67 are a couple of comfortable, central options. There's a good IHH hostel , The Russagh Mill Hostel , a mile out on the Castletownshend Road, (closed Dec to mid-March; tel 028/22451), a beautifully renovated mill house. Mick Murphy, the hostel manager, is happy to talk to visitors about his Everest climb in 1993, and leads hillwalking, canoeing and sail-boarding activities most days (GBP8-10/?10.16-12.70 per day). You can get Bus Eireann information from O'Cahalanes in Bridge Street, and rent bikes from N.W. Roycroft and Son in Ilen Street (tel 028/21235; GBP7.50/?9.52). There are a handful of decent places to eat in town: Yin Yang , 12 Bridge St, is a wholefood shop and cafe that serves tasty, nutritious and cheap lunches, soups and teas; you can tuck into good budget meals at The Stove cafe on Main Street, and Bernard's on the same street serves good pub food (till 9pm). Kalbo's Bistro , 48 North St (tel 028/21515), has an informal cafe atmosphere and is something of a favourite, offering inexpensive filled pittas and home-cooked lunches and a moderately priced, varied and enticing evening menu. There's no shortage of bars: Baby Hannah's , 42 Bridge St, is a lively young place and occasionally has rock music; for traditional music there's Sheehy's on the square, or you might try The Corner Bar , 37 Bridge St.
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