Got off to a bit of a slow start today. I’m fighting the start of a cold – thanks, rainy Gap of Dunloe and Lakes of Killarney – so it took me a while to get mobile. Once I did, I went for a bit of a walk to loosen the joints up, and then Penny and I did something that I hadn’t done in Kilkenny on my previous visits.
We took a boat tour.
It went u0 and down the River Nore, past the castle and under some bridges. The boatman was a nice Portuguese gentleman who had just started working on the boats after a winter off, and hadn’t quite got the history spiel down again. But he was friendly and fun and it was a great tour. Some sights:
After that, we went for lunch, and then went on a tour of the castle.
On my last visit, they didn’t allow any photographs inside the castle, but this time, photos were okay, as long as there was no flash. So… photos!
I took many more pictures in the castle, but these are the most interesting, in my opinion. And it’s my blog, so that’s the only opinion that counts.
After that, I was kind of dragging, so I went back to the hotel room to lie down for a bit, while Penny went off exploring. Later that evening, we decided to try for dinner at Kyteler’s Inn, because witches and live music.
Along the way, we noticed that the sign was out showing that the Hole in the Wall was open. This is a pub established in 1582. It was also a brothel. I’ve been told that the Duke of Wellington drank there. I visited it on my first trip to Kilkenny, when it was a little coffee shop. But tonight, it was a full-on (if tiny) pub.
The friendly barman even took a picture of Penny and I, proving we were there.
We didn’t manage to get a table at Kyteler’s Inn, so we went across the street and had a nice meal, and then took a bit of a walk down to see the way to St. Cannice’s Cathedral. We’ve got a walking tour tomorrow morning, so we should get a closer look, but it was a nice night for a walk.
And that’s it for today.