IRELAND, DAYS 1-2: TRAVEL, ARRIVAL, AND EXPLORING KILKENNY

 July 3-4, 2024

We left home at about 3:00 PM and made it through downtown LA and to our parking garage in about two hours.  Not bad.

We had an uneventful check-in for a non-stop flight to Dublin on Aer Lingus, a new airline for us. We were seated on the 3rd or 4th to the last row in the center section of a 2-4-2 configuration, but the last five rows or so only had three middle seats, making the aisles wider in the back near the bathrooms. Genius. Anyway, we both had aisle seats with an empty seat between us. Miraculous! And another miracle--I slept for a good part of the 9 1/2 hour flight, a rarity for me. We did have two meals. Dinner was tortellini with tomato sauce, salad, a roll, and chocolate mousse that was pretty good. Breakfast was a hot bagel with melted cheese and a sausage patty--not so good.  I watched one movie, Disenchanted with Amy Adams, sequel to Enchanted. Worst move I've seen in a long time. You can't win them all.

For a relatively small airport, we had a long walk between getting off the plane and passport control, but by then our suitcases were waiting for us. We walked to the car rental area to get our car from Budget and discovered why our rental (and every other rental we looked at) had been so cheap. They REQUIRE customers to buy insurance, which added $400, plus we had to put down a $2,000 security deposit. They must have lots of problems with people who can't drive on the left side of the road and with a steering wheel on the right. We had a very small Renault Clio with a manual transmission, but Bob, fortunately, is an absolute pro at shifting with his left hand and driving on the left side of the road.  

Our plan was to immediately leave Dublin and drive to Kilkenny, a distance of about 80 miles, which we thought might take an hour and a half. However, traffic was very heavy leaving Dublin, and not long after leaving the car rental place, the car began beeping at irregular intervals. Then the tire light came on, so we figured the low tire pressure caused the beeping. We got off the freeway, found a gas station, filled the tires, then figured out how to turn off the tire warning light. Sixty seconds into our drive, the beeping came back. Ultimately, I figured out that it was a sensor for lane control. Every time Bob began to drift towards a line in the road without signally, it beeped--and that was often. I found the instructions for how to disable that feature, and we continued our drive in peace.

KILKENNY (THE CITY)

We arrived in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny (counties are very important in Ireland--almost like states in the US), a smallish town of about 26,000 people, much later in the afternoon than we had planned, but we got our first view of two things I came to love in Ireland--the colorful two-story buildings crammed together along the main street running through town . . .

. . . and always lots of flowers:

We checked into the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel . . . 

. . . conveniently located just a couple of blocks from our main destination in the city: the Kilkenny Castle.

We asked the man at the front desk for dinner recommendations, and based on his advice we had dinner at Rive Gauche, a small, upscale restaurant that was really more of a bar.

This item on the menu called to both of us:

New Season Lamb: slowly braised shoulder of new season local lamb, orange glazed baby greenhouse courgettes, tenderstem broccoli, Markies mash potato, smoked artichoke, pearl onion & thyme pan roasting jus.

We agreed that it is some of the best lamb we've ever eaten--so tender it was like butter--and the roasted artichoke sauce was incredible. Overall, this first meal in Ireland was one of our best of the entire trip.

Back in our room, I got a kick out of the water containers. This was my first exposure to Ireland's passion for their many gifted writers. The following morning, we enjoyed a decent buffet breakfast with traditional Irish dishes--eggs, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and "bacon" (we would call it ham). There were also multiple kinds of sausage, but sausage is not my thing.

KILKENNY CASTLE EXTERIOR AND GROUNDS:

We checked out of our hotel, loaded our bags into the car, then walked the few blocks to Kilkenny Castle. We had strolled by it the previous night, but the main gate was locked (below left). Now it was open, and we had 45 minutes or so to explore the extensive grounds before the castle itself opened.

The castle was built in 1260 by the occupying Normans. Three of the original four towers still stand today. Through the centuries, some additions and modifications have been made, but at its core is the original castle. In 1967 the castle, at that time empty and deteriorating, was sold for a nominal sum of £50 by its owner, the 6th Marquess of Ormonde, to the Castle Restoration Committee as a gift to the people of Kilkenny. (The British rock star Mick Jagger attended the handover ceremony.)

Bob was excited to see a European robin and a rook, both birds he had not seen before.

As we walked around the grounds, we saw many locals enjoying the cool morning air, some pushing baby buggies, some jogging, others just meandering like we were. I was surprised to see a sign banning specific breeds of dogs--apparently those that tend to more aggressive. As in all signage, it was in Irish Gaelic first, and then in English.

Besides the grounds immediately surrounding the castle, there are tree-covered walkways and stairs leading to the nearby River Nore. Altogether, the castle grounds comprise about 52 acres.

Behind the castle is a formal rose garden

It is thought that the fountain base was once part of a 17th century water feature.

KILKENNY CASTLE INTERIOR

The Kilkenny Castle is rated the #3 best castle in Ireland by Trip Advisor.  (#1 is Blarney Castle and #2 is Rock of Cashel, which we visited later in the day.)

The interior has been meticulously restored. Lived in for decades by a very wealthy line of nobility, the castle definitely radiates that sense of wealth.

Those antlers above Bob's head once sat on the head of an Irish deer, an extinct species that was one of the largest deer that ever lived. The antlers, which can span as much as 11 feet, are the largest known of any deer. The species became extinct about 7,700 years ago.

The walls in one of the corner rooms are covered with tapestries from the 18th century.

The library is restored to is mid- to late-19th century resplendence. 

Note the forerunner of the folding card table on the left below. On the right, Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Dante can be found on the shelves.

I've never understood the moniker "drawing room." I looked it up and found that it is a shortened form of "withdrawing room," or a place guests would go to relax after dinner or be entertained. Here is the Kilkenny Castle drawing room:

I love windows and doors, both as structures and for what they reveal. Kilkenny Castle has some doozies:

Can you guess the name of the hallway below left? Blue Corridor. (Obvious!) The rooms branching off on either side are mostly unfurnished but serve as a kind of art gallery.

I wonder where these fellows purchased their cool hats?

The family living quarters come next, beginning with the nursery.

Check out this fairly modern toilet (built for a pretty large derrière): 

The master (mistress?) bedroom:

And another bedroom. This one looks more like the master's bedroom.

We were intrigued by what is called "The Moorish Staircase." It was added in the late 19th century to allow better access to the picture gallery (coming up next) and to provide another much-needed set of stairs in this enormous building.

The stairs lead to this absolutely spectacular crimson-walled gallery that screams "We are so rich!" It was built during the early 19th century and initially had a flat roof that had problems from the beginning.

The room was remodeled in the 1860s. Here is the unusual ceiling:

During the 1800s, 184 paintings hung on the wall, compared to about 50 today.

On our way out we came across the Ros Tapestry exhibit and learned that it is part of a project to detail the Norman Conquest and settlement of Ireland through the storytelling aspects of 15 sections of fine tapestry. The stitching was completed by more that 150 volunteers, the first tapestry being completed in 2002 and the last currently being stitched in Kilkenny.

Mirrors angle out on each end allow the viewer to see the 3-D aspects of the embroidery.

This one, entitled "The Thriving Port of Ros," is my favorite:

Visitors to the castle exit through the kitchen, which included a little sit-down bakery. Bob's lemon cake was much better than my brownie.

ST. MARY'S CATHEDRAL

I wanted to see just a little more of enchanting Kilkenny before we headed south, and we could see some tall towers in the distance, so we started walking in the general direction of what we thought might be an interesting church. I like the rainbow version of Umbrella Alley that we passed on our way.

The Gothic towers we had spotted adorn St. Mary's Cathedral, built between 1843 and 1857.

At first it didn't seem like much, but on closer examination, we discovered some unique and beautiful features. The left photo is taken from the the entrance and looking towards the altar, and the right photo is taken from the front looking towards the back:

This seems too small for a baptismal font. Maybe it is for Holy Water.

Very nice altar area:

The altar area is loaded with stained glass and glittering mosaics.

While I don't understand all the symbolism, I do like these statues that include Christ and the Virgin Mary.

The floor in the main part of the cathedral is relatively simple black and white squares, but the small  side chapels have gorgeous, complex mosaic floors.

The best part of the cathedral for me was this dramatic wax figure of St. Victoria and a chalice which is said to contain some of her blood. Both were sent to Ireland in 1845 by Pope Gregory XVI while the cathedral was under construction. St. Victoria was a virgin martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD and had a sword plunged into her heart by order of the pagan King Constantine.

My second favorite thing in the cathedral is this altar with its bas relief of Jesus tenderly holding a man. Could it be  his earthly father Joseph? The halo-ed woman on the left appears to be his mother Mary and this carving is found in the Chapel to St. Joseph.

Time to walk back to the car and head off to our next destination: The Rock of Cashel.