Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland
A great start this morning at Bramble Lodge in the town of Tower. We had a wonderful breakfast in a beautiful and bright dining room with huge skylights. The decor throughout this B & B has been very well done making it a very welcoming and comfortable place to stay. The air conditioning in the room was also welcome as it has been very warm! We met John's wife Alma this morning and she too was lovely to chat with before our departure.
Greg decided on Blarney Castle, house and gardens for today. 18 Euros each admission, about $27. Cdn. The attraction opened at 9am, we arrived at 10:30 and was told there would be a 90 minute wait to get into the castle. Surprisingly, time passed rather quickly with us looking around & on our phones (like many other visitors) while in the queue.
We finally got to the top of the castle, sometimes through narrow and tight spaces, where Greg wanted to kiss the Blarney Stone....not an easy feat as he had to lay down and kiss it while practically hanging upside down off the castle.
The stone is built in at the top of the castle built into its wall between the armouments. Legend says those that kiss the Blarney Stone will be endowed with the gift of "gab" (great eloquence or skill at flattery). Now that Greg's kissed it, we'll see!
After spending about 2.5 hours looking through the castle, on the way up and down, we spent another 2 hours exploring the grounds.....we didn't cover the whole 60 acres, but we did see some amazing sites such as the Blarney House, Poison garden, Fern garden, Wishing Steps, Witch's Kitchen (very cool!), Fairy Glade, Water Garden, Badgers Cave and some beautiful and some very interesting flowers and vegetation throughout.
We stopped for Lemon cake & to surf for a B & B tonight before leaving. We decided on Newlands Lodge just south of Kilkenny, a little less than 2 hours drive towards Dublin (Saturday night's sleepover).
We were greeted by Mariead the owner.....truly a beautiful house in the country. She gave us all sorts of information not only about our accommodations (big room with large ensuite, top floor again!) but also about Kilkenny, complete with tourist & restaurant suggestions, all which was very helpful.
We drove the 5 minutes into Kilkenny and did a walkabout around the downtown before supper. We checked out the outside & grounds for Kilkenny Castle, did some shopping at Dunnes Store (one of the big Dept stores here) and strolled through most of the downtown streets bustling with people this Friday night. Again, no shortage of pubs to choose from!
Supper was at "Mike the Millers" Pub & Restaurant on the River Nore, great atmosphere and good food! Traditional Irish musuc from a duo during most of our stay but a band was setting up for the evening when we were leaving. Greg had a full slab of ribs and I had tonight's special, Chicken Carbonara Fettuccine. Not sure how Greg got it in, but he also ordered dessert, Strawberry Sponge Cheesecake. It was so good it was almost gone before I could even think about getting a picture if it!
A little more walking then back to the B & B. Totally needed the walk after that delicious supper!
We're starting to gear down a bit now as we are starting to prepare to go home in another day & half. :-(
After spending about 2.5 hours looking through the castle, on the way up and down, we spent another 2 hours exploring the grounds.....we didn't cover the whole 60 acres, but we did see some amazing sites such as the Blarney House, Poison garden, Fern garden, Wishing Steps, Witch's Kitchen (very cool!), Fairy Glade, Water Garden, Badgers Cave and some beautiful and some very interesting flowers and vegetation throughout.
We stopped for Lemon cake & to surf for a B & B tonight before leaving. We decided on Newlands Lodge just south of Kilkenny, a little less than 2 hours drive towards Dublin (Saturday night's sleepover).
We were greeted by Mariead the owner.....truly a beautiful house in the country. She gave us all sorts of information not only about our accommodations (big room with large ensuite, top floor again!) but also about Kilkenny, complete with tourist & restaurant suggestions, all which was very helpful.
We drove the 5 minutes into Kilkenny and did a walkabout around the downtown before supper. We checked out the outside & grounds for Kilkenny Castle, did some shopping at Dunnes Store (one of the big Dept stores here) and strolled through most of the downtown streets bustling with people this Friday night. Again, no shortage of pubs to choose from!
Supper was at "Mike the Millers" Pub & Restaurant on the River Nore, great atmosphere and good food! Traditional Irish musuc from a duo during most of our stay but a band was setting up for the evening when we were leaving. Greg had a full slab of ribs and I had tonight's special, Chicken Carbonara Fettuccine. Not sure how Greg got it in, but he also ordered dessert, Strawberry Sponge Cheesecake. It was so good it was almost gone before I could even think about getting a picture if it!
A little more walking then back to the B & B. Totally needed the walk after that delicious supper!
We're starting to gear down a bit now as we are starting to prepare to go home in another day & half. :-(
2025-03-20