The Marble City

Our fourth day in Ireland was mostly spent in and around Kilkenny.

We first headed to Mount Juliet Equestrian Centre (50 euros for 1-hour trail ride). I think we used the navigation system to get there instead of google maps, and not only did it take us a crazy way to get there (twisty-turny roads where we were trapped behind a herd of cows), but we were lost once we actually got on the estate. Even though there were a couple signs on the property telling us the way to the Equestrian Centre, I think in the final stretch there weren't any real signs showing us the way. We had to stop and ask for directions from some gardeners, a jogger, and another driver, who finally directed us to the stables.

Graham and I were supposed to take a trail ride together, but he had broken his arm the week before. Our airbnb host actually knew someone who worked at Mount Juliet and talked to them the night before about getting him a refund! He was also coming down with a cold (I swear, this trip was the bane of his existence; he will never go back with me), so it may have been a good thing that he got to sleep in the warm, dry car while I went on my hour-long trail ride. It ended up being good for me, too, because I got a private trail ride all to myself. Graham's never even ridden a horse, so if he had gone with me we probably would've only gotten to walk for an hour. Without him we went far, and I got to canter the pony, Snoopy, through the woods and alongside a river. Luckily it wasn't too cold and was only sprinkling a little bit at that point, so I could still feel my fingers gripping the reins!

I brought my own helmet and boots, although I ended up borrowing their boots because of all the rain. They did have all the gear provided at the stable, but I feel more comfortable and safe in my own helmet. They also groomed and tacked Snoopy up for me entirely, so while I thought I needed to get there half an hour early to do all that, what I really did was fill out paperwork and try on boots during that time. (I left an hour before our time slot, though, which was good since we got behind the herd of cows and got lost on the property!)

After my trail ride, we headed over to the city of Kilkenny. We parked in a parking garage near the castle (8.5 euros), walked to a pharmacy down the street to get Graham some cold medicine (which was an interesting experience- all the medicine was behind the counter and we had to tell the pharmacist what symptoms he was experiencing so they could get him the right medicine), and then walked through Kilkenny Castle (7 euros). I remember Kilkenny as being a bit crowded, but not in the same way as Dublin. The town didn't seem as big, but it was definitely congested. Apparently Kilkenny is called the Marble City because of all of its marble buildings, which have been very well preserved. The castle fell into disrepair and was refurbished in the 1900s, which might be why it felt a lot more modern to me than the other castles we went to. (That, and because most of the other castles we went to had been ruins for hundreds of years.)

After we toured Kilkenny Castle, we had a little time on our hands and walked around the town. We saw signs pointing to a Famine Memorial and the Kilkenny Famine Experience, but when we followed them, we ended up at a shopping mall. It took us a while to figure out that there were plaques around the mall with audio about the Kilkenny Union Workhouse (which was now turned into the shopping mall) where hundreds of people had died. By then we didn't actually have enough

time to listen to the recordings, but we did see the Famine Memorial Garden and statues outside. We also got to browse around the stores in the mall, such as the T.K. Maxx. (Yep, T.K. That's no typo.)

The Rock of Cashel (8 euros) was our final stop for the day. This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most, and actually one of my favorite things we did, but the weather was so miserable. It felt like I was standing in the middle of a hurricane (it doesn't help that Cashel's on top of a cliff to begin with). I huddled up to Graham the whole time to keep warm (or as warm as possible when my whole body was drenched) while listening to the tour. I was shocked to see some families there with young ones. I would have hated having to stand in the middle of the rain and wind when I was a kid. None of them cried, but I would have. Heck, I almost started crying from the cold and I was 25 years old.

This was another outstanding tour, though, and I truly enjoyed learning about "St. Patrick's Rock" and being able to see everything. We also toured a small chapel there which was off-limits unless you had a tour guide. (You had to show up right

on time because it was heat-controlled indoors to preserve the building and they couldn't let anyone in or out in the middle of the tour. This was definitely the most enjoyable part of the afternoon because of the warmth!) There was also a museum in the visitor centre, so whenever we got cold while we were there, we could go to the museum and look around. The original St. Patrick's Cross is located in there; the one outside is a replica because the original was becoming so weathered-down. This definitely would have been one of my favorite tours if the weather hadn't have been so miserable.

I don't even remember where we ate dinner that night, or lunch for that matter. We might have just eaten fruits and snacks from our airbnb the whole day. I had planned on going to Waterford and eating there, but by the time we got done with the tour, we were so miserable we just wanted to crawl into a warm bed (and a warm shower, but our airbnb host put a 10 minute time limit on the hot water...). The house we stayed at that evening was gorgeous, with ivy crawling all up the sides and a garden view just outside the dining room. The room itself was in the attic and had really low ceilings- we kept hitting our heads on the ceiling when we stood up. Our host was not as friendly as the others had been, but that ended up being nice; we had had such a long, cold, exhausting day that we really just wanted to go to sleep!

Total costs for Day 4: ~80 euros per person

Cost of airbnb: $70