Today our goal was Cahir Castle, the Rock of Cashel, Hore Abby and Kilkenny. We managed to accomplish all of them, although we missed the castle in Kilkenny by minutes, as seems to be our luck.
Cahir Castle is considered one of the most intact castles in Ireland. It was quite an experience when we first arrived because you have to climb stairs that are outside (it was raining), steep, and some have no handrails. That made it exciting.
After the castle, we visited The Swiss Cottage. What a delightful little place. It was built in a time when Marie Antoinette made it fashionable for the very wealthy to "play" at being peasants. They would dress up in peasant clothes and pretend to work, as a diversion from the hum drum of sitting around and being waited on by their peasant servants. The Swiss Cottage was built by a wealthy Irishman for his wife. The building was their summer escape into the country where they would entertain friends in the garden and music room. The flower gardens were beautiful and the cottage itself, with its thatched roof couldn't have been sweeter.
Leaving Cahir (care), we moved on to the Rock of Cashel. This is an imposing fortress atop a hill in Cashel. It was a fortress fought over for generations until one of the kings " gave it" to the church. Unfortunately it was under construction and with scaffolding everywhere it destroyed some of the most imposing views. Carrie and I enjoyed a laugh over her witnessing me taking pictures of an interesting wall accessory. It was to hold holy water but Carrie hadn't realized what it was and joked about the "ancient cup holder" .
A walk downhill from the rock took us to Hore Abby. The ruined Abby was fenced in by a rock wall, with no visible entrances. The two intrepid travelers weren't about to let that stop us, so over the wall we went and down to the inner sanctum. We are apparently a bad influence because as we approached the abby, we noticed other people following what we had done. We enjoyed photographing the ruined building and each other. It became soft" again (the term the Irish use when its a heavy, misty rain) and that sent us on our way to our next adventure. We went through the typical few minutes of struggle to find our rural road, and we were off for Kilkenny.
With our luck as it has been, we arrived into Kilkenny at 5:25 pm. Our guidebook mistakenly told us that the castle was open until 7pm, which was the latest any building we have visited has stayed open. We searched out the castle parking and rechecked the times listed in our Heritage Card booklet. It told us that the castle closed at 5:30.... About 10 minutes prior to us finding parking. Damn the luck. We had a quick sandwich in the car (lunchtime at 5:45 pm) while we watched the once again "soft" rain. The castle grounds were open until 8:30 so we went into the Kilkenny Design Center and did a little window shopping before heading out to visit the castle grounds. Our picture taking was challenged by the gusty winds and rain, which come and go quickly just as we had heard. We had planned to spend a bit of time walking the medieval streets of the city but the rain, combined with the fact that at quitting time the Irish roll up the welcome mat and go home for the night, we decided to head for home.
Carrie has been doing the bulk of the driving to prevent getting car sick on these winding roads. (My acupressure bands are saving me) I have the job of navigator. My skills failed me on our way home last night. Hungry and exhausted, I missed a glitch on the map where one motorway ended and joined another. I figured we would be allowed to go either direction but alas, one direction only.... And not the direction we needed to go. Well that's not the end of the story because the closest exit to turn around.... 29 kilometers. Oh ya, and through a tollbooth. €1.90 please. We got off and re entered the motorway the other direction. Tollbooth ... €1.90 please.
Home at last, dinner at 10:15, I needed laundry ... So I cried uncle. Day of rest, PLEASE!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment