Today we woke up early to get the rental car, but not before Dave had a full English breakfast at the Stage Door Cafe; it's definitely a popular spot, so if you go, go early. The waiter has six months until retirement and he kept saying he hates vegetarians and green tea drinkers - oh well! All in good fun.
We picked up our rental car at the airport - only Avis was willing to rent us a car in Dublin and drop it off in Belfast. Despite being charged slightly more for an automatic, we learned that automatic cars are taking off in Ireland and the UK, so much so that in some countries, most of the cars (rental and other) are automatic rather than standard. This was a huge load off my mind, as we are incompetent to drive stick.
I had been afraid of what driving on the left would be like, but I took to it pretty quickly and by the end of the trip felt like I'd been doing it all my life. Dave never loved it, but he was able to do it just fine. It made me feel better about future trips to left-driving countries.
We drove out to Kilkenny first for a visit to the castle there (well, first I napped in the car in a parking lot, but then we went to the castle); there are lots of photos you can see online, but I loved the small details of the paintings, furniture, tea service, etc.
Kilkenny Castle tea prop
We visited Kyteler's Inn, which was owned by a woman who was later accused of witchcraft. There was some fun shopping in Kilkenny, including the Kilkenny Design Center with lots of artisan crafts. Strangely, the people of the region were beyond excited to welcome Bruce Springsteen, to the point that there were signs in every window, life-size cut-outs of him, and breathless adoration on the radio. Who knew he had such a fan base here!
We had lunch at Zuni, which had lots of tasty and fresh lunch options. Then we headed out of town for the Rock of Cashel, which again is famed and has tons of beautiful photos online, and I enjoyed some shots that really highlighted the blue sky we enjoyed that day.
 |
| Detail of Rock of Cashel ruin |
The Rock of Cashel is absolutely worth a stop; you can also see the ruins of an abbey from the rock, and not far down the road are the ruins of the Priory of St. Athassel, which you can walk to across a field. There is no entry fee, just be careful amongst the rocks and cow patties!
 |
| Priory of St. Athassel |
Apparently this was quite a large complex back in the day, one of the largest in the country at the time. I highly recommend a stop if you can find a spot to park.
We headed to Killarney next; we were not terribly hungry for dinner, so we walked from our hotel to the Celtic Whisky Bar & Larder for a flight of whisky for Dave and some Irish cheeses to share. Lots of cute shops in Killarney, too, and my favorite was Quills Woolen Market. I got a beautiful plaid poncho, a blanket, and Dave got some woolen ties. And they ship!
No comments:
Post a Comment