Kilkenny

On Tuesday we finally shook out of our seven-month-travel-burnout and decided to hit the road and explore the surrounding area.

We headed to Kilkenny, which is a city 55 km south of home.

Once called the marble city (local black limestone can be seen on floors/trim) and a seat of political power, it’s exactly what you think of when you imagine a true ‘Irish village.’

There’s a castle, a hollywood set looking shopfronts that line tiny passageways, electric fresh paint on each shopfront facade, and old as dirt pubs (each one playing “Traditional Irish Music Tonight!”).

We still have our priorities straight, so we headed to Smithwicks to do the brewery tour. Unfortunatley this Leavenworth-like city is popular on a Tuesday, so the tours were sold out for the day. So instead we headed to the Tynans Bridge House Bar. The bar was built in 1703 and you don’t exactly need Lonely Planet to tell you that.

Afterwards we cruised around the streets looking for a good place to eat.

After a candy and food pitstop we headed to the Kilkenny Castle. 

The castle was built in 1172 and bought by a Butler family in 1391. Family descendants called the place home until 1935, and in 1967 the castle was sold to the city for a whopping fifty pounds. They of course don’t allow photographs, so it didn’t take long for me to get bored.

After checking out the place, we took a lap outside before walking around Kilkenny a bit longer before heading back home.

Kilkenny is cool.