Blogs from Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland, Europe - page 7

To make our trip to Kilkenny a little more interesting, Iz and I decided to stop off at a couple of sight-seeing points along the way. It wasn’t too long a drive to our final destination, so we could afford to take some time out from our fairly busy schedule. Our first stop was only 30-40 mins from Cork - the Mitchelstown Caves - one of Europe’s major show caves - according to their brochure. We were a little unsure of this when we rocked up - in a tiny car park in front of a dingy country house - and our opinion didn’t improve when we headed up the long drive and into a tiny shack to wait for our guide. First impression were definitely wrong - and as we entered the tiny dwarves door ... read more

Thats right, in the small town with 10 internet cafes I am yet to find the Maccas, or the Subway or anything else that seems to spring up on every single street in every other city I've been to so far.. But this is by far the smallest town I've been to so that could explain it.. Also happy to report every pub has Kilkenny on tap! (wow this must be an exciting place! haha) which you would hope so being called Kilkenny and the beer being called Kilkenny and all.. Went and visited Kilkenny castle, could only get access on a guided tour so thats why I did, the tour guides accent was so strong everyone was struggling to understand her, but no it wasnt a strong Irish accent it was a strong Czech or ... read more

I'm in Kilkenny now, which is a nice small little town with about 25,000 people living here. It has been absolutely freezing though everyday, there is snow all on the hills surrounding the place so a fair bit of time has been spent in the pubs, just to keep warm though! This place is like a real old town with the main streets barely wide enough to fit two cars along with the building still the same as they were a few hundred years ago. The main thing to see here is the Kilkenny Castle overlooking the city and it is quite impressive. It was built around the 1300's I think and was ruled by the powerful Butler family for 600 years or so. This town also used to be the capital of Ireland back ... read more

Not wanting to repeat our mistake of the day before, we had arranged for a cab to take us to the bus stop in nearby Carlow Town, so we could catch our quick half hour bus to Kilkenny. We related the ‘Len’ story to the cab driver and he chuckled and said “Ah sure, I know Leonard.” After dropping us off, the cabbie honked and waved goodbye before pulling away. I felt like my dad had just dropped me off at a high school dance - except my dad never charged me $25. This was the first place we’d been to that didn’t have an actual bus station where we could buy tickets and ask questions at a kiosk, so a nice local made sure we got on the right bus and indeed told us where ... read more

When pronounced correctly with the emphasis in the right places, Kilkenny sounds like two distinct words: Kill and Kenny (because in Irish, it is two words, though the pronunciation differs slightly). As in, “Oh, my God, they killed Kenny. Those bastards!” So perhaps you can understand why the city’s name has always been a little threatening to me. Yet as I discovered during a recent daytrip to the city, Kilkenny is anything but threatening and every bit an enjoyable, captivating city. Following our arrival from Waterford, Helen and I started with lunch at Kyteler’s Inn, whose first proprietor was known for ritual sacrifices and eventually accused of practicing witch-craft waaaaay back in 1320’s. Now it’s a charming pub complete with high definition televisions to watch the footy. I can’t imagine Dame Alice Kyteler envisioned this is ... read more