This post covers our two days in Kilkenny, Ireland. Before I get to this stay, some Irish history. There are many cities and counties in Ireland that start with “Kil.” This isn’t because they are a violent society that wants to kill everything and everyone. “Kil” is derived from the Gaelic word “Cill,” or church. So, there are a lot of places named after churches. The name Kilkenny is derived from the Gaelic “Cill Chainnigh,” which means “Church of Cainnech.” Cainnech was an Irish monk and missionary who founded a monastery in the Kilkenny area in the 6th century. Now you know.
Day 5
We enjoyed a quiet final night in Dublin. Amazing what shutting a window can do. Our last breakfast was delicious, as usual, and came with another screaming child, as usual. We packed up and took a taxi to the airport so we could pick up our rental car. Once in the car, on the wrong side of the car, we were off driving down the wrong side of the road. Since I covered the ordeal of driving in the first post, I will not dwell on it here. I drove us to the town of Enniscorthy, so we could eat at the Bailey Bar and Eatery.
The inside was interesting, and the food was pretty good.
Sylvia and I had Bailey cheeseburgers. Cindy had a vegetable soup with brown bread, and salad. The food, atmosphere, and service earned this place a solid 4.5 on the link scale. When you add half a point for the great name, it earned a link. After our meal, I drove us to Waterford in a light rain to keep the number of rainy days in a row streak alive. Waterford is the home to the House of Waterford, the home of Waterford Crystal. On our way there, our GPS took us down some crazy narrow street that turned out to be a pedestrian path. That would explain the dirty looks from the pedestrians. I also ended up on the wrong side of the road twice. That was my fault, not the GPS. We finally made it to the House of Waterford alive and without killing anyone.
We had scheduled a tour that I agreed to because I knew Cindy and Sylvia would enjoy it. I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed it as well. Prior to the tour, we had time to look around the display area where they have various items for sale. I was thinking if I found something really special, I could get it for Cindy and surprise her with it. Here is the first thing I found that I liked.
You read that right, 2,150 euros. There would be no surprise gifts from Waterford. Then I found a really cool decanter that could be used for wine or whiskey.
A mere 310 euro, before shipping. Close, but no cigar. Or no decanter in this case. Here are a few other interesting items in the display area.
Our tour started with the William Maddock clock. The clock was made from Waterford crystal, with the clock parts made by the famous clock maker from the late 1700’s, William Maddock.
Here was the mold area.
This is where most of the crystal items are hand blown. We were able to see two vases being hand blown while we were there.
Most of the items are hand cut by artisans.
A few are cut by machines.
Here are a few more interesting items from the tour.
This is a great tour. We highly recommend taking it if you have the chance. There is a link in the usual place. Our next stop was at our Airbnb about 10 minutes south of downtown Kilkenny. It was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom place with a washer and dryer so we could do some laundry. There was a light rain on the drive there and it lightly rained for the rest of the evening. Here are a few pictures of our place.
Our bathroom had the smallest sink I have ever seen on my life. That’s my small travel toothbrush on the right side of the sink.
The owners of the place clearly had a sense of humor based on this painting in our bedroom.
After getting settled in, we took a cab to dinner in the downtown area. We ate at Dopplo.
We all had steaks, veggies, potatoes, and mushrooms. I added a Guinnes Old Fashioned. We all enjoyed our meals. I have to admit the drink was the best art of my meal. The steak was good, just a little tough. The girls also had the same experience with their steaks.
For dessert, we all split some cheesecake and some ice cream in a shue bun. Again, everything was good. We all rated Dopplo a 4 on the link scale.
After dinner, we walked across the parking lot to a small grocery store where we bought some breakfast and snack items for our place. When it was time to return to our Airbnb, we called the same cab company, and it was lucky that we did. We did not bring the address of our place and had no idea how to get there, or where it actually was for that matter. Our driver called on the radio and found the driver who picked us up. That driver told our driver how to get to our place. Talk about feeling stupid. Our driver told us about a really fun train to ride in Kilkenny that would show us the highlights of the city. It was across from Kilkenny Castle, where we were visiting the next day. We decided we had to try that. Who doesn’t like a train ride? We made it back to our place and got some rest.
Day 6
After a quick breakfast at our place, I drove us into Kilkenny for a tour of Kilkenny Castle. Once again, we would deal with light rain for most of the day. Luckily, most of the tour was indoors. As for Kilkenny castle, it has been continuously occupied in one form or another for the past 800 years. The castle and grounds take up just over 50 acres, as it is surrounded by lush and manicured park like settings. Here are some pictures from the outside and entrance area.
Here are some pictures of the surrounding grounds.
The inside of the castle was pretty amazing and well maintained. Here is just a sampling of what we saw on our tour.
If you ever wondered why the beds are usually very small in Victorian settings, it is not because the people were small. Most royalty were overweight and tended to overeat at most meals. In order to be comfortable when sleeping, they slept in an almost sitting up posture, kind of like when you are in a recliner. Since recliners had not been invented yet, the used the arm rest to prop themselves up.
There was a great hall that was covered in art. Even the cross members supporting the roof had art painted on them.
This was an amazing place to visit, and you must book a tour in advance if you plan on visiting. Use the link at the end of this post to get your reservation now.
We walked across the street from the castle and looked for the train that had been suggested to us the night before. We found it.
While not what we expected, we tried it anyway and had a good time. Here are some of the sights we saw.
When we drove past a really old cemetery, I snapped two pictures in quick succession, one in portrait and one in landscape.
I cannot explain the orb in the second picture. Could it be a ghost? Your guess is as good as mine. I can tell you I did nothing to alter the second picture and didn’t even notice the orb until my daughter pointed it out to me. Interesting stuff if you ask me. All of the possible ghost sightings made us hungry and we decided to walk to a place recommended by one of our cab drivers from the night before. He told us we had to visit Mac McMillian’s Pub. It took a solid five minutes of back and forth before we realized he was telling us to visit Matt the Millers Pub. So that is where we walked.
For lunch, we started with a baked brie that was really good. I had a chicken sandwich that was two breaded breasts and was really good as well. I drank a local red ale that was just as good as the food. Cindy and Sylvia split a cheeseburger and they really enjoyed their food too.
Matt the Millers earned the rare restaurant link at the end of this post. We drove to a local grocery store and picked up some food we could cook at our place. It stopped raining for a few minutes when we arrived, so I was able to get a picture of the yard.
After dinner, we played some cards and were off to bed to rest up for the next busy day.
The next post will cover our three days in Killarney, near the west coast of Ireland. Stay dry until then.
LINKS