A weekend holiday in Kilkenny!

This past weekend was the October bank holiday weekend here in Ireland, so Kalen and I decided to take advantage of the extra day off and take a little holiday. It took us a few days to decide on a destination. We really wanted to go see the Giant's Causeway, but since the weather was supposed to be crappy, we settled on Kilkenny City. So, we packed up some clothes and our knitting, and took off on Saturday morning. We took the bus since it was a fraction of the price of the train, and it didn't end up taking much longer than the train would have (a little over 2 hours). The bus ride itself was quite an adventure. I had never seen Ireland outside County Dublin before. Now, you have to understand that over here, when you go to a restaurant, the menus all rave about how they only use 100% Irish raised beef and lamb and chicken and pork. Being that I had never left County Dublin, I couldn't figure out where they possibly kept all this livestock. For all I knew, the whole country was like one big city. However, as soon as you leave County Dublin, all you see is green and cows. It's not like Alberta, where every field is massive and has hundreds of cows in it, but there are just lots and lots of small fields, each with a few cows, and I suppose they all add up after a while. The countryside is very pretty.

We got to Kilkenny, and it was quite cold that day. And pissing rain. I mean really lashing. We were told by the woman who owns the Bed & Breakfast we were booked into that the train/bus station was only a 10 minute walk from the B & B. Maybe if you're a horse. It was actually a half hour walk for humans. In the rain. With our bags. We weren't particularly thrilled, to say the least. By the time we got to the B & B, we were totally soaked. But we decided we didn't come all this way to sit our room and be wet and cold and miserable, so we got changed and went back out to do some exploring. That way, at least we were seeing something interesting while we were wet and cold.

Good thing I had my new wellies!



Kilkenny is a really interesting city. Back in the medieval times, it was apparently the capital of Ireland, so there were a lot of important things built there. Then, after the capital was moved to Dublin, people sort of forgot about Kilkenny, and as a result, many of the ancient buildings were left standing because they didn't have to deal with as much urban sprawl. It's quite a tourist attraction now, and was very busy for the bank holiday weekend. Amazingly, we still ended up seeing everything we went there to see, and then some! While we were there, we met up with my friend Steffi from college who lives in Kilkenny, and she showed us around some of the lesser known but equally cool things in the city. Hooray for being friends with the locals!

Day 1:

We tried to go see the castle, but all the tours for the day were full by the time we got there, so we went and just wandered around instead. We found a lot of really beautiful old churches. Unfortunately, I don't know the names of any of them because we weren't paying that much attention. We only found them by seeing them over the tops of the other buildings, and then wadnering in their general direction. Sorry for the rain spots on the camera lens. Like I said, it was really really raining, and this is the best I could do.



Now really, how did they carve that out of stone?? Look at the draping on his robes! Incredible!









Love that big window!



These empty grave-looking things were supremely creepy, but kind of beautiful in a way. They were in the front garden of one of the churches. Any idea the significance of these? (James, I'm looking at you...)



It was so weird...this was the only one that was filled with water. There was something so peaceful about it. We really liked it. (You'd be amazed at how many pictures we both took of it. Couldn't really tell you why.)









It looks like a little heart at the top...







We also found St. Canice's Cathedral, but we didn't go inside on the first day.

That night we took it easy and just knit and watched a movie on my computer in our room. And ate chocolate muffins. We're cool like that.

Day 2:

The weather was much nicer (still cold though) so we met up with Steffi in the morning and took a cab out to Dunmore Cave. Steffi has lived in Kilkenny for 14 years, and even she couldn't believe that she'd never been out to the cave before. It was SO. COOL. A little bit of background before we get to the pictures: Dunmore cave is over 300 million years old, and made up of limestone and calcite. At its deepest point, it's close to 150 feet below the ground, but people aren't allowed to go that deep anymore. Still, it took us 350 stairs to get down to the bottom...then we had to get back up again. Ugh. Local people have known about Dunmore Cave for centuries, and there have been many artifacts discovered there, which are now in the National Museum. In the year 928, Godfreid the Viking and his men went there and committed a huge masacre of Irish people. They've since found lots of human bones and viking coins and jewellery. It was kind of creepy standing in a 1000-something year old murder site. Spooooky. Anyways, on to the pictures. I'm going to have to apologize again for the quality...not because of rain this time, but have you ever tried to take pictures in a cave? Doesn't always work so well. It's really much more impressive in real life.

Even the steps going down into the cave are sort of in a big hole.



Down we go...



In the cave



Sometimes the calcite deposits look like monsters,



or ghosts,



Or bison (do you see him?),



Or snow.







The ceiling looks sharp. Those tiny little stalactites are called "straws" because they're actually hollow inside. It takes about 10,000 years to form one, then it breaks off when it gets too heavy and starts again.



That pit isn't actually full of nuclear waste, it's just moss with a poor choice of lighting. Looks pretty cool though.



Weird looking holes in the ceiling



You can't tell from the picture, but the mineral deposits on this wall were actually glittery.



This weird rock on the ceiling kind of looks like a flower.



This part of the cave is called the Fairy Floor. It's where the fairies come to dance.



"Stalactites and stalagmites, only caves have got 'em. Tites are always on the top, and mites are on the bottom!" Thanks, Girl Guides. I've never forgotten!





Time to head back up. So. Many. Stairs. My legs still hurt. Really.



After the cave, we continued being tourist-y and went to see the inside of St. Canice's Cathedral. It's really beautiful, and there's so much to see, but my favourite part was the outside. It reminds me a lot of St. Andrew's in Manitoba.
Well, not the actual church part (St. Canice's is quite grand and was built in the 1200s) but the cemetary. (*Some of these outside pictures were taken in the rain on the first day.)











Part of St. Canice's is the Round Tower. Basically, it's a 30 metre high stone tube with a ladder inside. People can climb up it and stand on the top. Kalen was the only one of us brave enough to go up. She said the view was lovely, but it was quite windy and she felt like she was going to blow off the top. Scary.



Like I mentioned before, there are a lot of interesting things inside. Lots and lots of very old tombs containing various important people.







This one had his feet resting on a lion. Now, I know that if they have their feet on a dog, it means they were loyal to the church, but what does a lion mean? (Again, I'm looking at James.)



I gave his lion a pat. It was a very nice lion.



Some of the graves were in the floor.





Some of the stained glass was kind of generic, but I love the colours on the Christmas one. Also, it happens to be the only one that I actually recognized the scene. 4 years of Catholic school, and still all I know is Christmas and pretty colours.



These ones were all over the ceilng. I like the shape.



They have a big pipe organ. We were disappointed that we weren't allowed to play with it.



Gorgeous. I tend to appreciate churches from the point of view of someone who has studied art, because I don't really know too much about the actual meanings and purposes of things. Oh well.



This is me being holy (see? Ian's not the only one in the family!). Except by "being holy", I actually mean "Kalen, Steffi and I were messing in the church and it's amazing we didn't get kicked out." We sure had fun though.



I can't imagine how much skill and patience it takes to carve all that out of wood.



Steffi wanted me to go stand up there and pretend to preach, but it was roped off, so I had to sit on the steps instead. :(
Fun fact: the green pillars along the sides are made of Irish marble.



Steffi is the same height as me. That's how tall that eagle is. And very shiny.



This fish...plate(?)...thing is also very shiny.



The ceiling. That's made of stone, just in case it wasn't already impressive.



It's quite a large cathedral (as I suppose cathedrals tend to be).







After the cathedral, Steffi showed us around Kilkenny a little bit. This is Black Ferren Gate. It may not look like much, and the metal supporting beams take away from it a little bit, but this gate has been standing since the Norman era. It used to be part of the city walls. Long story short, it's very very old.



This is the tower/prison where they threw all the lepers in the middle ages. Scary. You don't see this on tourist maps. Thanks, Steffi!



That was about as much sightseeing as we could handle for one day. We went clubbing instead. It was awesome. No pictures.

Day 3:

Another cold and clear day. Kalen and I made it back to the castle in the morning and managed to get tickets for one of the tours. Hooray! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, but you'll have to believe me when I saw it was really really neat. Everything inside has been restored to EXACTLY the way it was in the Georgian days. Right down to the carpets and wallpaper. Some of the things were original, but most of it was reproduced. The original things like the Italian marble fireplaces were especially cool.

Here are some pictures of the outside of the castle:

The front gate













He guards the door to the information desk. I think he looks kind of Roman.



This is just a small part of the castle grounds.



And after the castle, we had lunch and then got the bus back to Dublin. We were exhausted, but the weekend was hella fun. Hooray for last minute holidays!