And a Day in Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a very medieval city, from the huge castle-fortress in the center (Kilkenny Castle) to the ancient churches and abbeys to the archways over the narrow alleys. We spent a day exploring the city, beginning with lunch at a pub, where we watched a bit of a cricket match and tried to figure out how the game worked (with no success). After that, we toured the castle and church-hopped for a couple hours. Then, after I screwed up the bus schedule and we missed the last bus to Cork, we spent the night at a hostel right in the city, and finally went home on Sunday

Kilkenny Castle is the city's main tourist attraction. The interior, which had fallen into disrepair this century, had recently been refurbished in the Victorian style. The tour was cheap, but unfortunately we couldn't take pictures. I did get some nice shots of the outside.

St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny's main Catholic Church.

The Black Abbey, a medieval abbey run by the Dominicans.

Several unearthed stone coffins we placed by the entry way. Some were definitely empty, but I don't know if they all were.

One of the more intricate stain-glass windows I've seen here.

This sculpture is from the 1200s.

This church looked cool on the outside, but the interior was very modern and not very exciting.

St. Candice's Cathedral of the Church of Ireland, the second longest church in Ireland, which was built in the 13th Century. Unfortunately, it was closed for the day, as was the Round Tower, so we may have to go back just to explore this church and get a great view of the city.

The St. Francis Abbey Brewery, with the ruins of a medieval abbey in the middle of the brewery.

A Night in Foulksrath Castle

On February 1st, I took a bus to Kilkenny with my roommate and another friend, and we spent the weekend there. The first night we stayed in Ireland's oldest hostel, a 15th century castle that had been converted into a guest house. That was a really fun experience, especially since there were only 2 other people there, so we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. The castle still retained a very medieval feel, despite the renovations, and was in excellent condition (compared to Blarney, for instance). The next morning, we walked to the bus stop and went back into the city of Kilkenny.

It snowed the night before, so on the bus ride to Kilkenny we saw several snow-capped mountains.

We arrived at the castle pretty late at night (it was a ways outside of the city), so I couldn't get many pictures of it till the next morning.

The inside of the castle had been redone, so it was pretty much the same as any nice hostel.

The dining room had been refurbished in a medieval style.

The walls and courtyard were all still intact.

The remains of a moat.

There were some very friendly horses living next door to the cast