Day 4 Overview:
- Rental Car
- Kilkenny
- Lunch at Matt the Miller's
- Kilkenny Castle
- Rock of Cashel
- Kenmare
Rental Car
We had a long day of travel ahead - almost 5 hours in the car total. I am excited, though, to see a large part of Ireland. We got up around 7:30. We are still adjusting to the time. I keep waking up at around 10 pm and I am up until around 1 am because my body is confused about what time it is. We showered, packed up, ate our pastries from Bewley's Cafe and crumbled them all over the place. Eric called an Uber and we waited downstairs for it to arrive. When it came, it was too small to fit all of our bags and us in it, even though it technically sat 6 people. We ended up having to call a second Uber for 8 people so that it had room for our bags as well. We had it drive us to the airport. The line for Budget was long and we ended up waiting for at least 40 minutes to get a car. I was a little worried they were not going to have one for us because they had to make a call to try to find a van, despite having reserved one from Costco travel before we left. We ended up getting an Opel Combo. It was tight getting all of our bags inside and ourselves. It makes us appreciate how roomy our Honda Odyssey is in comparison when we travel, but you get what you get on vacation. I am just glad they had something that sat us all so that we could all ride together. Using GPS on my phone, we navigated our way out of town and onto Kilkenny.
Kilkenny
Site - https://visitkilkenny.ie/
Kilkenny is a medieval town that is known for being quaint so we thought we would check it out. Unfortunately, getting out of the hotel and the rental car took more time than we anticipated. It was about 90 minutes to Kilkenny from the Dublin Airport. The drive was on mainly larger roads, which made it easy. We took the wrong turn once and ended up on a much smaller road and had to stop for sheep to hobble across! We made it to Kilkenny and found the parking garage. They had spots towards the top so we felt lucky that our first navigating driving in Ireland was going okay. Eric is doing well with driving on the opposite side of the road as well.
We then walked to stop for lunch. We wanted to eat at a place called Cafe La Coco, but it was small and full. It only looked like it sat around 15 people. This seems to be a common problem with places to eat in Ireland. We then walked to a second option, Blaa Blaa Sandwich shop, but it didn't have any place to sit and eat and it was chilly and windy out. We ended up across the river at Matt the Miller's. It does not seem to be affiliated with the Matt the Miller's in Ohio. After lunch, we made our way over to Kilkenny Castle for our 2 pm tour.
lunch in Kilkenny
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny
Kilkenny Castle
I purchased tickets ahead of time for the guided tour of Kilkenny Castle. There were only a few tickets left when I purchased them because the tour groups are small, probably 10 people. It was well worth the extra cost to have someone show us the castle and tell us about the history. It was interesting learning about the family that had lived there for hundreds of years and being able to see different rooms within. Much of the rooms had been redecorated in the 1800's despite parts of the castle being hundreds of years older, with constructing starting around 1200. We were able to see the entrance, waiting rooms/living room areas, bedrooms, and the dining room. The portrait gallery, which was the newest addition, was a favorite. It was a beautiful room that looked more like a Viking long room than an Irish Castle.
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny Castle
Rock of Cashel
Site - Rock of Cashel
After finishing our tour, we had to quickly get back to the car in order to make our time slot for the Rock of Cashel. Every ticket we have purchased has a specific tour time, so it was a dance trying to juggle all of the things we wanted to see. The Rock of Cashel is about an hour drive from Kilkenny which made us the last tour of the day at 4 pm. Only the self guided tour was available at this time, but Rick Steve's had information on it in his guidebook and I had printed off a history that I read to everyone in the car. The site includes a round tour, chapel, and cathedral. We were not able to tour Cormac's Chapel and much of the other buildings are in slight ruin since the ceiling was removed from the main cathedral in the 1600's. It is still a site to see on top of a craggy rock. It offered beautiful sweeping views of the country side.
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Rock of Cashel
Kenmare
Site - https://www.kenmare.ie/
After the Rock of Cashel, we made the 2 1/2 hours drive to Kenmare where we rented a VRBO. The drive was initially rolling countryside, but as we neared Kenmare, we came across the ochre colored hills/mountains that are near Killarney. It was such a unique landscape and beautiful to drive through. Eric mentioned he thought that it looked like the southwestern United States, but the plants weren't right with all of the gorse mixed in with their bright yellow flowers. It felt different, a unique landscape.
Our VRBO was perfect and it was nice to be all in the same place rather than in separate hotel rooms. It also allowed us the opportunity to cook rather than eat out. The house was a row home and very tidy and nice right outside of Kenmare. We stopped at Lidl grocery store on our way to the house to pick up items for dinner. We picked up bread, jam, potatoes, sausage, lunch meat, Irish butter, kiwi, and salad. The Irish butter was so good - the best butter I have ever had in my life. It's rich and makes me wonder why American butter is so pale and flavorless. The hosts gave us some Easter gifts which was so generous of them. The kids loved the chocolate and chips. Eric made bangers and mash for dinner. The kids then watched part of the movie Chicken Little and then it was off to bed.
drive to Kenmare
drive to Kenmare
drive to Kenmare
drive to Kenmare
