My First Trip to Ireland - Day 4

Sunday was my last full day in Eire. I had decided the night before that I wanted to see some castles; real castles, not fake ones like Gillette Castle in Connecticut.  I had chosen two that were easily accessible and could both be seen in a single day.  I chose Kilkenny Castle and Cahir Castle.  I also decided I wanted to take a somewhat off the beaten path to them, so I chose small towns on a map to plug into my satnav which forced it to take me on less traveled roads, rather than the motorways. I started my journey early, around 7am.  The day was gorgeous, and the travel was easy, being a Sunday.  On my way to my first way point, I stumbled upon the small village of Durrow.  Here, I found what looked like a gatehouse to a grand estate.

 

Upon closer inspection, it turned out it was a gatehouse, for Castle Durrow, a grand estate turned Country House Hotel and restaurant.  I decided to venture up the drive to get a closer look.  I was also really hungry at this point and I had no luck prior to this finding a place to eat (you won't find the plethora of chain restaurants in Ireland like in the U.S. such as Bob Evans, Denny's, IHOP, etc.). I decided to venture into the castle to inquire about breakfast. I met this cute fella in the entryway.

I decided to partake in the breakfast offering of the restaurant in the castle, which consisted of a lovely buffet of chilled items and breads, and what became my third and final full Irish breakfast.  I had some wonderful poached figs, fresh fruit salad and a danish from the buffet as well.  This was by far the best breakfast yet, and the presentation was amazing. This is the view I enjoyed while eating:

Just before I departed the castle, I used the toilets (yup, restrooms are called toilets in Ireland...because that's what they are) as finding them while driving is not as easy as in the states.  While it may seem odd, I just had to take a picture of the toilets, because one could not ask for a nicer place to do your business:

And here is a shot of the castle itself.  My little car is the red one on the right.

Castle Durrow

Next stop, Kilkenny.  Kilkenny is actually a fairly large town with very narrow and winding streets lined with shops and pubs on both sides.I made a short video while driving through the village.  Don't try this at home!

The castle itself was really amazing. It has been restored to when it was used as a home, rather than an earlier period when it would have been a fortress.  You were not allowed to take pictures inside, but of course I did.  Notice the thickness of the walls, as seen near the windows, in this shot.

Prior to leaving, once again I made sure I found the toilets. I loved the sign that they had on the disabled toilet.

And a couple of exterior shots of the castle. I just love this first one:

Onward to Cahir castle.  On my way I passed a thatched roof cottage, which unfortunately had seen better days. It was still really neat to see:

On my way, I went through the town of Clonmel, home to Bulmers Cider, which in the U.S. is called Magners.  I didn't realize I was driving past it until it was almost too late, but I did manage to snap a picture of some of their storage(?) tanks.

And here is a Google Earth image showing just how many of those things there were:

It was not long before I reached Cahir Castle.  Here was my first shot:

This castle was really neat, as it has been preserved/restored as a fortress, and they are not afraid to let you go into places that most would consider unsafe, including on the walkways along the parapets.  From atop these walkways, you got a great view of the village of Cahir, and I took many pictures from there. Here is one of the walkways. Notice the lack of safety features and the steps at the far end with no handrails!

And some shots of Cahir:

 And one of my favourites, looking through an arrow loop toward the village.

and a few more of the castle itself:

I still had some time left in the day, so I decided to head to the east coast, via Waterford. I found a spot on the satnav map and had it take me there, which ended up being through some beautiful mountainous areas.  The weather had started to turn a bit, and it was now very soft (misty and foggy); it was still a very nice drive.  After about a couple of hours, I reached the east coast and was able to finally see the Irish sea.

I continued to drive along the coast for a bit when I decided to finally start heading back.  I really had no idea where I was, as I only had the satnav and no map.  I decided to just use my sense of direction and try to head northish, toward Dublin.  Well, I ended up back in Waterford. By this time, I decided to just hop on the motorway, as it was beginning to get dark.  My stomach was rumbling shortly after, so I exited toward Carlow, as the sign along the motorway said there was food there.  Carlow is another nice sized village (and the County Town of County Carlow) and there were plenty of options to choose from. By this time it had started to rain and was dark.  Imagine this tourist, driving in a village he's never been in, in the dark, in the rain and on the left hand side of the road.  Needless to say, it didn't take me long to find a place to eat.  I ended up at the Bombay Diner Indian Restaurant.  I was the only person in there!  The food was absolutely amazing, though.  It certainly hit the spot. 

After dinner, I reluctantly headed back to the hotel. During my entire time in Ireland, I had been keeping my eye out for one of the specialty flavours of cider that Bulmers came out with a few years ago, but I was having no luck finding it. I stopped at a petrol station on my way back to the hotel to use the toilets, and what do I find? THIS:

Bulmers Spiced Apple and Rhubarb Cider

It was exactly what I was looking for. I grabbed two, one for tonight at the hotel and one to bring home.  I was so excited (you have to understand that I don't drink much, but I do love me some cider, and I'm always looking to try new varieties). Oh, and I also picked this up:

I'm a gardener, how could I not get it? 

This was my last night in Ireland. :(

Day 5 to follow...