Ireland Part III

3rd Stop: Kilkenny

First we saw the Rock of Cashel (or castle of Cashel).

You can see the old secret passageways where a cannon hit the castle.

Then we trudged through a farmer's cattle land, sadly stepped in a patty, and saw Hore Abbey.

Then onward to Kilkenny! We stayed again in a pretty cool hostel. It was 6 stories with a huge antique staircase and a grocery store within a 5 min walk. Also unlike any of the places we've stayed thus far, it definitely felt more city-like.

Our hostel!

Our own room finally!

The community kitchen

 We're looking like real backpackers now!

View from our room

Now to explore Kilkenny!

Old church with the tallest watchtower in Ireland

So we HAD to climb it

It was a tight squeeze!

View from the top

Then it started to sway in the wind, we're outta here!

Tour inside the church...

The floor was gorgeous

Tombs

Then the Great Kilkenny castle! No pictures allowed inside so these are of the castle and grounds.

Reading up before we head inside

The grounds were beautiful

Kilkenny was awesome only really due to the huge ancient castle. It was a nice breather for us during this trip. We found a mall, walked around aimlessly and sat in cute coffee shops to talk and discuss our next stop....

Stop #4, Dublin!

Dublin right offhand reminded us of a shorter Paris, France. Meaning very urbanized but shorter buildings. The bus system was awesome and it's a good thing because there were no subway systems. We chose a hostel close to the Temple Bar District so we walked/bused everywhere. Even to and fro the airport. Armed with our guidebook, we navigated the city perfectly.

Our last accommodations in Ireland

We love our ancient churches

Stongbow's Tomb

Next we visited the Dublin Castle

Dublin city streets

The Dublin castle's helo pad

The Ireland presidential inauguration room

All castled out

Helo pad

 After the castle we headed over to the Chester Beaty Library. In the library we saw an exhibit of some ancient Christian writings. We actually laid eyes on the letters Paul wrote to churches merely 60ish years after Christ's death. Incredible. Afterwards we needed a caffeine pick-me-up.

Afterwards we hit up the Temple Bar District before nightfall. There are tons of restaurants, bars and things to do in this area.

Best live music 

No cars allowed

Later that night we tried out the temple bar, his first Guinness in Dublin!

Day #2 in Dublin

 We found this awesome natural museum with tons of taxidermist animals, cool!

Real Puffin

Elephant Skeleton

Dublin's "5th Ave"

 St Stephen's Green used to be Dublin's city centre. Back in the day they used to do public hangings here...now it's a lovely park.

St Stephen's Green

  Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). This jail is from the the late 1700's and house many men responsible for the Easter Uprising, Ireland's war for Independence. The history and preservation was astonishing.

Main housing area

Cell door

A cell that hasn't been touched since the jail closed

This was the area where men went for execution by firing squad. 

Dinner at Boxty's

Day #3

Kit made a friend

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The post office, huge pole or what the locals call "Stiffey on the Liffey", also this is where the Easter Uprising took place!

Garden of Remembrance
For the men who lost their lives during the uprising

Liffey River

Half pence bridge

 Then we had to hit the Guinness Brewery! Overall it was ok, the best part was the gravity bar with the 360 degree view of Dublin.

Stink eyeing me

Smelling the hops

Gravity Bar

Waiting for our free pints to settle

Cheers!!

This trip meant so much for us. Like I typed before, we re-connected and worked out the "travel bugs" that had been itching at us for the last year. This trip was perfect. I posted so many pictures and details because I'm hoping you'll see these things for yourself one day. If you want any tips or have questions please don't hesitate! We loved Ireland!