Day 13- Kilkenny - Nothing to Lose and the World to See

Had a wonderful time exploring Kilkenny today! I started the day off a little rough, couldn’t figure out how to work the hot water in the shower at my AirBnB so I basically had to fill cups with warm water from the sink, not the best way to start, but thankfully I got it working when I got back tonight. My day immediately improved when I headed to a cute little cafe that I saw on the Haunted Kilkenny tour last night called The Pantry. I looked at their Facebook page last night and was elated to find that they had been on holiday and today was their first day re-opening. I parked in a parking garage I found last night called the Ormonde Street garage, highly recommend if you’re in the city, it’s very conveniently located and the pricing is very reasonable. I walked to the Pantry and naturally ordered a plain scone and an Earl Grey tea. It was delicious and a pretty close second to the heavenly scones we had in Derry. I’ve been trying not to repeat restaurants, but I am probably going to go back there tomorrow for another scone.

I had a 10am tour booked at Kilkenny Castle this morning, you could either do a self-guided tour for 8 euro or a guided tour for 12 euro, I did the guided tour and it was definitely worth the 4 extra euro, you get access to some areas that are otherwise off limits, you have someone you can ask questions, and you get a lot more information than you would from the pre-recorded audio. Not to mention you also get access to the castle for as long as you like so you can go back through and essentially do the self-guided tour as well. Kilkenny Castle is beautiful and has been wonderfully restored while still maintaining the medieval charm. There are still some original pieces from the castle and all of the portraits and tapestries are original as well. The castle was built in 1195 by Strongbow (aka Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke). In 1391 it was seized by the crown and sold to the Butler family for 1000 pieces of gold. The Butlers occupied the castle until 1935 and held the property until the 1960s. In 1935 the family relocated and left the castle empty with one caretaker, and they sold a lot of the furniture and belongings at an auction. In 1967 the castle was inherited by Arthur Butler, the 6th Marquees and 24th Earl of Ormonde who decided to sell the castle to the state for 50 euro on the condition that it be preserved and opened to the public, stating that there were “enough ruins in Ireland, Kilkenny Castle shouldn’t become another”.

Arthur Butler himself was a very fascinating man and deserves a little recognition for not only preserving history and ensuring that the people of Kilkenny and of the world are able to appreciate this beautiful castle for many many more years, but also for his service as well. Arthur Butler served in World War I when he was in his 20s and again in World War II (though according to our tour guide, his feats in WWII are largely unknown, being listed as having done “special operations” for the government- aka espionage.)

This is called a Unity Table, if you look closely at the pattern you can see a Shamrock representing Ireland, a rose representing England, and a Thistle representing Scotland.

The portrait gallery- called the Long Hall

A fascinating relic of the past- the two items on either side of the fireplace were called pole screens and they were invented to block the heat from the fire so it wouldn’t melt the makeup from the faces of the ladies of the day if they were too close to the fireplace. Apparently this is where the phrases “having a meltdown” and “saving face” come from.

After the tour I decided to take a walk around the castle grounds. It was an incredibly beautiful walk and parts of the walk were largely peaceful with no one else around. I found a little pond with a some friendly little ducks and a lot of beautiful trees.

After the walk around the grounds I went to the shopping center and walked around a bit. There was a radio station broadcasting from the little shopping center and band played a few songs in the square and then people lined up for autographs (I didn’t recognize them or their music so I avoided the line). I also noticed something in front o of the town hall – a Condolence Book for the victims of the gas station explosion in Northern Ireland a few days ago. It reminded me that there was also a Condolence Book at the Guildhall in Derry for Queen Elizabeth the II, it’s a very touching thing they do here, allowing people to offer their condolences for events that touch the whole country, something I’ve never seen before. After walking around for a bit I decided to grab some lunch and went to a restaurant recommended by our Haunted Kilkenny tour guide- Matt the Millers. I enjoyed a delicious Beef and Guinness Stew with brown bread and a Smithwick’s Pale Ale. I really wanted to do the Smithwick’s tour, but apparently they don’t do tours on Tuesday and Wednesday (just my luck). I would recommend Matt the Millers, the food was delicious and they have live music starting at half 6.

After my late and very filling lunch I decided to come back to the AirBnB to take a nap- which turned into me just staying in for the night and getting things organized for check-out tomorrow. The benefit of having a rental car is I can store my luggage in the car and stay in town as long as I want, so I plan to have breakfast at The Pantry again tomorrow and maybe do a Road Train Tour (if I can figure out how to book it :)) then we’re on to Cork tomorrow! Looking forward to exploring more of this beautiful country!