August 31 – Rock of Cashel and Kinsale

Rock of Cashel

We left Kilkenny this morning with our first destination being the Rock of Cashel. We retired our GPS and old maps and relied on directions given to us by our hostess at Butler Court. Our backup was the road atlas that we bought yesterday.

We drove on narrow roads until we reached the M8 which is Ireland’s equivalent to our interstate highway. Then it was a very easy drive to Cashel.

The rock isn’t really a rock. It is a hill containing a tower, cathedral and castle that date back to the 12th century. There is a lot of renovation work being done, but enough of the rock is open so that you can get a good feel of what is was like several centuries ago.

Ann and I paid our admission fee and started on our self-guided tour using Rick Steves’ tour book. We quickly caught up to the official guided tour that was much more comprehensive than the book. Besides, it was more fun listening to an Irish accent and to several stories by our volunteer guide.

The weather was sunny and cool with a strong breeze on he hill. Nevertheless, it was an interesting tour and we were taught a lot about the history of the rock and the surrounding area.

We spent about 1 1/2 hours there. Afterwards we walked back to the car park and discovered a small cafe that was perfect for lunch. Granny’s Kitchen served Ann a salmon salad while I had soup and a ham salad sandwich. I discovered that ham salad means a slice of ham with lettuce and tomato. The vegetables were fresh which made this a good meal.

We left Cashel and returned to the M8 and headed toward Cork and Kinsale. This was another easy drive. The road narrowed, however, a few miles before Kinsale.

Ann was smart and printed out the directions to The Old Presbytery, our B&B for the next two nights. It is in a house that was built around 1750. Our rooms have been updated since then and have wonder furnishings and modern bathrooms. The lady that checked us in was very helpful telling us how to get around town and suggesting restaurants for dinner.

After settling in, we did a short walk around town. Then we came back to the B&B to clean up. Dinner was a sort walk to The Whitehouse. This is a combination wine bar and restaurant. (I have noticed that Kinsale has wine bars instead of pubs). We sat in the bar. I had a pint of Smthwick’s Irish Ale while Ann had a local cider. I had an nicely cooked plaice, a white fish, while Ann had grilled salmon. We were served sides of mashed potatoes. peas, pickled cabbage and a puree of carrots and turnips. It was a good meal. We decided to have fresh fish because of our location on the sea.

We did a little more walking near out B&B and got back to our room shortly after 8:00. It’s nearing 9:30, so I am signing off.

August 30 – Kilkenny

Although we are staying in accommodations that serve breakfast, our meal is set up in our room the previous day. This can be good for both the hosts and the guests. The hosts don’t have to be serving all of the guests for the good portion of the morning. The guests can eat whenever they want. The only thing missing is the interaction of the guests. We will get that later on our tour.

We decided to take a rest day today and tour Kilkenny. The first stop was the book store where we bought details maps of Ireland. With our disabled GPS and our barely sufficient maps, we decided that we needed and better way to navigate.

Our next stop was the Kilkenny Castle. We paid our admission fee (it’s reduced for seniors) and did the self-guided tour. The castle is being restored by the Office of Public Works. There are docents in each room to describe them. We got in the middle of a large LDS tour group and had many lectures about the background of each room. After our tour was over, we sat in the old castle kitchen which now is a cafe and had coffee, tea and scones.

We left the tour, walked through a crafts center, went through the historic Butler House and stopped in our hotel room. After that we walked down the street across John’s Bridge and had lunch in La Trattoria, the best Italian restaurant in Kilkenny. Being a slow lunch time, the owner was acting as chef and waiter. Our plan was to have a large lunch and a small dinner. This was a large lunch. Lots of pasta.

To work off some of the pasta, we did a city walk up High Street past the Rothe House and the Smithwick Brewery and ended up at St Canice’s Cathedral. After its self-guided tour, we turned back and walked past the Black Abbey and stopped briefly at St Mary's Cathedral.

I was finished for the afternoon so we walked back to our room.

After resting for a couple of hours, it was time to go to Dylan’s for a pint. This is a whisky bar newly designed to look like an old-style pub. I had a local IPA which was OK but not up to my standards of my favorites at home.

After Dylan, we walked over to Kytelers Inn for some traditional Irish ale and some food accompanied by live Irish music. We sat at a table in old leather arm chairs and joined the packed house listening to good music.

Back at our room, it’s closing in on 10:00. Time for bed.

August 29 – Powerscourt Gardens, Glendalough and Kilkenny

Powerscourt Gardens – Japanese Garden

We took the hotel’s shuttle bus to the airport to get our Hertz car. Hertz put us in its van and drove us to the rental lot which was within walking distance of our hotel. This was the beginning of a crazy day.

Our rental car has a steering wheel on the right side and we have to drive on the left side of the road. Getting used to cars approaching us on the right is frightening. You have to reboot your driving skills. We only had one minor incident, though. Hertz will have to reattach one of its wheel covers.

Our GPS lead us directly to Powerscourt Gardens. This is a huge estate with a large manor house and several acres of gardens with different themes. We did a clock-wise walking tour so that we could see everything. The most colorful plants and flowers had for the most part faded but there were still some spectacular areas. My favorites were the Japanese Garden, the Pet’s Cemetery and the various fountains.

When were were done touring, we had a decent lunch in the cafeteria. When we got back to the car, we discovered that our GPS was not working. Our backups were our Hertz map, a AAA map of Ireland and my cycling GPS. Using all three resources, we managed to go in the wrong direction for a few miles to our next stop. We pulled into a parking area to find out where we were and Ann spied a sign pointing to Glendalough. From there on, we found our way.

Glendalough is in a valley with a lake on either side. It also has a Monastic Site with (what will become familiar to us) a round tower. The Monastic Site also has a church and other small buildings in rubble. In addition, there is a cemetery with markers that are real old and some recent.We wanted to come here to see the beauty of the area and to stretch our legs on a short walk. We walked on the Green Trail to the upper lake. Being in the woods and next to a lake was very relaxing and stress-free.

Back at the car, I worked on the GPS so that it set up a route to our hotel in Kilkenny. When we were leaving the parking lot, some men were hollering at us to stop. I thought that we were going the wrong way on a one-way road. I was wrong. A man ran up and handled us a wheel cover that fell from our car. It’s a good thing that Hertz insisted on us buying insurance.

Trying to follow the GPS instructions, we had to make a U-turn after the first mile. Jack, our GPS’ name, was very good to us for several miles on very scenic secondary roads which we enjoyed a lot except when we met cars coming from the other direction. Eventually Jack gave us some bad advice on a traffic circle and routed us onto an “M” road. Because we fed Jack with an old map, he knew nothing about this road. We took the nearest exit which was several miles up the road and drove until Jack knew where we were. This lasted for a few short miles when I missed a turn. Jack was lost and so were we. Ann came to the rescue again a saw a sign pointing to Kilkenny.

We got to Butler Court about an hour later than we planned. Our room is reasonable large, clean and bright. It is located very close to the center of town. We parked our car in a multi-story garage which is free for our hotel.

For dinner, we walked a block to the Hibernian Bar which is a pub with very good food. We both had a pint of Kilkenny stout. I’m not going to bore you with the details of our meals as I have in the past unless you tell me to.

Bed time was at 10:00.

August 28, 2013 - How To Get To Ireland

I am a planner. I do most of our trip planning with some essential and worthwhile input from Ann. I made all of our plane, car, hotel and train reservations many weeks ago. I even changed our flight to Dublin because I didn't think there was enough layover time in Frankfurt. We were routed through Newark with a comfortable two hour layover. So I was in panic mode when UAL and my premium Tripit accounts contacted me on Moday at 8 PM that our flight to Newark was cancelled. I immediately called UAL to reroute us. After an hour and forty five minutes, we were booked on an itinerary with stops in O'Hare and Washington Dullas. The flight was to leave SFO later than our original one, so we would be able to get another 1 1/2 hours of sleep and Bay Porter Express would pick us up at 7:30 instead of 5:30. I was a bit uncomfortable because our two layovers were about an hour each. I was really worried when UAL and Tripit notified me early on Tuesday morning that our SFO flight was delayed. We got to the airport, breezed through check in and security and used some complimentary tickets to United's comfortable lounge. We kept our eyes on the departure board to check the status of our flight. It was delayed only by a few minutes.

Our flights were uneventful. The layover times were just right. We arrived in Dublin early. Passport control was quick. Our checked bags arrived shortly. We booked the Carlton Airport Hotel and when we asked directions to it, we were sent to the Clarion Hotel. The walk felt good, though,and the Clarion van driver gave us a ride back to the airport where we caught the Carlton shuttle. Our driver was an older, chatty Irishman who entertained us all of the way to the hotel.

We have a nice room with a king-size bed, lots of hot water and free Internet. The location is not so good if you arrive in the morning. We are isolated in the airport area with very little around to see or to entertain us. We had lunch in the hotel's restaurant, took a short nap and did a walk around the area. The were a lot of small businesses like car repair shops, used and new car dealers, cemetary monument sellers, gas stations and a huge long-term parking lot. More interesting were some old houses with thatched roofs, a spots facility for the College Of Surgeons Of Ireland and another sports facility for the Whitehall Comcille which includes ladies football. This is Gaelic football which is very different from American football and soccer. Although our walk was sort of interesting, if I had known that were were going to arrive so early, I would have booked a room in the city center so that we could have done some real sight-seeing.

We managed to get through with dinner at the hotel without falling asleep. Guinness and Irish Ales were good choices. I will take some photos tomorrow on our first day of sight seeing and post them on this blog. It is a little after 8:00 and we are ready to slumber.