Other parts of this series:
Escape to Eire - Monday (this post)
After walking back to our hotel from our traditional Chinese-Irish dinner it didn't take long for us to fall asleep. Though we only had twin beds, they were an upgrade from the angle-flat seats on the airplane the night before and we slept well.
The next morning we ate at the hotel restaurant which had a nice buffet. We enjoyed listening to the mix of languages around us as we ate.
While the weather was cooler, the sun was out on this Monday so we left our umbrellas with our luggage and headed out to see what we'd missed the day before. We found that street signs are not necessarily one of Ireland's strengths and ended up getting lost on our way there. Fortunately a passing local was able to set us straight.
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral |
We finally arrived at the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland, St. Patrick's. It's a beautiful building next to a pretty park and parts of it date back to 1220 AD though a church has stood on this site since the 5th Century. Just hard for me to comprehend things that old!
Once inside we had to step carefully as, like a lot of European churches, there are many graves/tombs on the floor. The stained glass windows were beautiful and there were so many old relics on display, like a chair used by King William III when he visited the church to give thanks to God for his victory over King James (of Scotland/England) at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
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| Dublin Castle Exterior |
Our last stop in the city was Dublin Castle. While waiting for our tour to begin we stopped for a snack in the café and had a great view overlooking the castle gardens. There was a Viking fortress here in the 930s and the Normans upgraded it to a stone & wood structure in the 1170s. King John I of England ordered changes made in the early 1200s that give us the basic layout we see today. We were even able to go below ground at the base of one of the corner towers to see the remains of these earlier structures and how they'd diverted a river around the property. I really have a hard time imagining how old these buildings are!
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| Dublin Castle entrance from courtyard |
The parts of the castle above ground are in excellent condition though they maintain much of their ancient look. The castle is often used as a location for films. This was one of the few castles that allowed us to take photos inside. St. Patrick's Hall is still used for public functions, including the inauguration of the Irish President. We also liked the throne that was built for King George IV, a man said to be six feet tall and six feet around. His granddaughter Queen Victoria was so petite that a matching stool had to be made for her so that she'd be able to not only step up to sit in the chair, but to keep her feet from dangling too!
We'd thoroughly enjoyed our time in Dublin and hope to return someday but for now we had to get on the road. Of course that meant driving again and even our GPS didn't help a whole lot when you have trouble locating street signs and streets keep changing names. But we were finally able to wind our way out to the motorway.
As the motorway is quite like our interstate, we had no problems with the driving there. It was only when we wanted to stop for lunch that we started noticing the differences. We'd seen indications that there was food available at the exit but we got to the top of the ramp and didn't see any buildings. (In fact, we rarely, if ever, saw business right at the top of exit ramps.) We followed the coffee cup sign one direction but never found where this coffee was supposedly available. We turned back, crossed to the other side of the motorway and there we found the town of Kilcullen. After finding that the local pub didn't serve lunch, we were directed across the street to a small café run by a delightful lady named Carolyn with whom we had a nice chat.
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| Matt the Millers, Kilkenny |
Mid-afternoon we reached our next stop, Kilkenny. We faced the typical Irish Mist which could leave us damp but it was only full-out raining off & on. We scouted out Kilkenny Castle with plans to return the next day. We stopped for dinner at Matt the Millers, a traditional pub in what appeared to be a former mill house. The traditional Irish music was a nice side bonus. Then it was back to our B&B for a good night's sleep.
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