First stop of the day was Kilkenny. There we visited Kilkenny Caste which was completed in the early 1200’s.
Here is a picture of the streets in Kilkenny.
In Kilkenny we had breakfast at a small place called Kafe Katz. Dustin ordered the Salmon and Eggs…much to his surprise the salmon was raw shredded on top of the eggs. He was a good sport and still ate it. We don’t normally like many things raw. After breakfast we hit the road again.
Our next stop was Waterford, Ireland, home of Waterford Crystal. Located here in Waterford is their headquarters and prestige factory. We took the factory tour and learned how they make the crystal, it’s a pretty long process which is done completely by hand. No wonder it’s so expensive! We saw the “just in case” versions of the Superbowl trophy and many other trophies and beautiful vases. This first picture is an example of a mold the hot ball of crystal is placed into.
The next few pictures show the process of blowing and then the design is carved into the crystal.
This mirror is lined with beautiful crystal…this was one of my favorite pieces but not something I could ever afford nor would want to pay that much for!
We grabbed lunch in Dungarvan at a cafe. Ireland has so many town home buildings all with different color doors. It’s fun to see all the bright colors against the stone buildings.
If you don’t already know….Dustin is a HUGE fan of Apple Inc, and their European headquarters is located in Cork, ireland, which happened to be on our way (sort-of). It did cause us to have to drive up hill & a very very very narrow street, where cars were coming the other direction and bikers in our way. But we made it and here is Dustin next to his favorite logo.
Near Cork is the famous Blarney Stone and Castle. We thought we could get a glimpse of the castle without paying, but it turns out they charged 12 EUR to get in the gate and you couldnt see it from the outside. Since we have lot of days left on this trip and didn’t really want to kiss a stone that 1 million other people have kissed, we decided not to go in. As we were driving away we were able to get a few glimpses from the backside of the property.
We then headed to our stop for the night in Kinsale, Ireland. The countryside today was very beautiful and the Kinsale area was no exception. Our hotel is just up the hill from town and this is the beautiful view from the backside.
There are a lot of people here this weekend, apparently it’s their biggest weekend of the year. There is a big rugby tournament going on. Rugby players and spectators are everyone. We headed downtown to find fish for dinner…they are known for their seafood here. Dustin and I split the Crab Rissota and Yellow Fin Tuna. Both were excellent! We were hoping to find an Irish band to watch but they didn’t play until much later in the evening.
All of these towns were very quaint each with restaurants, and shops. There were not many big stores, they were smaller specializing in one type of product. It made us feel like we had stepped back in time, it was fun!
That’s all for today…getting rested up for tomorrow’s big day of driving. We are headed to the Ring of Kerry which is supposed to be beautiful. The sun is supposed to be out tomorrow too which is a plus!
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