Day 14 - Ireland - Glendalough and Kilkenny Castle
Today we went to Glendalough (prounounced Glen-da-lock). It was only a 30 minute drive from our hotel. There are some well preserved ruins of a monastic city complete with a round tower, iconic for Ireland. We were there before the Visitor's Center opened and one of the first few people in the park. The trails are free and open to the public so we walked down the path to the Monastic City by ourselves. It was wonderful to not have any crowds. When we left an hour or so later, the place was crawling with people.
Glendalough was originally the place where a hermit priest named Kevin went to live alone and commune with nature for 7 years. Later he came back with a small group of monks. His religious fame grew and eventually thousands came and settled the monastic city and surrounding areas.
After seeing the ruins we hiked around the area and down to the lake. Mom headed back and Jason and I decided to hike up to a little waterfall cascading down the hillside. On the way down the steep, mossy hill, Jason slipped and fell, sliding in the mud on the way. His shorts were totally covered in mud. We decided he needed to wash them in the stream so he could wear them the rest of the day since we weren't going back to the hotel. So he had to take his shorts off, use his coat as pants and scrub his shorts in the mountain stream. Luckily we were far enough off the trail that no one was walking by but by the time he had cleaned all of the mud off of his shorts and we had to walk on the 1.6 km path back to the car with his coat around pulled up around his waist to cover the bottom half, there were a lot more people at the park. We were laughing and Jason walking as fast as he could while carrying the wet shorts and holding up his jacket at his waist so it wouldn't fall down. It was hilarious. Then the best part was as soon as we got to the car to meet up with Mom, she was trying to open the door and accidentally set off the car alarm while dropping the key on the floor of the car. We couldn't find the car key for what felt like minutes while poor Jason is hiding behind the door, pantless (but with his jacket covering him). Just when you want to be fast and discreet! I was laughing so hard!
The drive to Kilkenny Castle was an hour and a half so we put his shorts out the window and let them flap in the wind to dry off (until it started raining). Then we had to put them in front of the car heater and the car felt like a sauna! But by the time we got to Kilkenny, his shorts were clean and dry.
Kilkenny Castle was awesome. It was a fully restored castle and we were able to tour through 3 floors of rooms. They didn't allow cameras so I don't have any pictures, but it was really cool. After the tour we wandered around the streets of Kilkenny. We got some traditional Irish candy at a little sweet shop and bought some souvenirs to take home to the kids. Later we had an early dinner at Matt The Miller's Pub. I loved the rich wood, old stone walls and stain-glassed windows inside. I had the Bangers and Mash again. It was good, but not quite as good as the night before. Mom tried the "Matt's Famous Clonakilty Chicken: Roast supreme of chicken filled with Clonakilty black pudding (blood pudding), wrapped in streaky bacon and drizzled with scallion cream sauce." I tried some and it was pretty good! The thought of blood pudding makes me want to gag, even though I'm not sure I really know what it is. I was impressed that Mom ordered it...she was brave! I was only brave enough for a little bite. :)
We came back to the hotel early and Jason and I headed to the pool. This is a really fancy hotel and you are required to wear the robe and slippers to go down to the pool. We actually had the place to ourselves. It was really pretty and very hoity-toity feeling but fun to feel fancy for a second. We swam some laps and then decided to sit in the sauna. It was SOOOO hot! I've never sat in a sauna before. I was dripping with sweat in the dark, steamy room. It was hard to breath, the air was so humid. After forcing ourselves to stay in there for 10 minutes, we checked out the rest of the sauna. They had this small "shower" with an old fashioned bucket and chain at the top. So we pulled the chain and had a freezing cold bucket of water dumped on our heads. It was shocking and actually quite refreshing!
Tomorrow is our last full day of our trip. We are going to spend the day in the city (Dublin). And we got tickets to Riverdance. I'm really excited! And I'm even more excited to see my family again! I miss them so much.
Glendalough was originally the place where a hermit priest named Kevin went to live alone and commune with nature for 7 years. Later he came back with a small group of monks. His religious fame grew and eventually thousands came and settled the monastic city and surrounding areas.
After seeing the ruins we hiked around the area and down to the lake. Mom headed back and Jason and I decided to hike up to a little waterfall cascading down the hillside. On the way down the steep, mossy hill, Jason slipped and fell, sliding in the mud on the way. His shorts were totally covered in mud. We decided he needed to wash them in the stream so he could wear them the rest of the day since we weren't going back to the hotel. So he had to take his shorts off, use his coat as pants and scrub his shorts in the mountain stream. Luckily we were far enough off the trail that no one was walking by but by the time he had cleaned all of the mud off of his shorts and we had to walk on the 1.6 km path back to the car with his coat around pulled up around his waist to cover the bottom half, there were a lot more people at the park. We were laughing and Jason walking as fast as he could while carrying the wet shorts and holding up his jacket at his waist so it wouldn't fall down. It was hilarious. Then the best part was as soon as we got to the car to meet up with Mom, she was trying to open the door and accidentally set off the car alarm while dropping the key on the floor of the car. We couldn't find the car key for what felt like minutes while poor Jason is hiding behind the door, pantless (but with his jacket covering him). Just when you want to be fast and discreet! I was laughing so hard!
The drive to Kilkenny Castle was an hour and a half so we put his shorts out the window and let them flap in the wind to dry off (until it started raining). Then we had to put them in front of the car heater and the car felt like a sauna! But by the time we got to Kilkenny, his shorts were clean and dry.
Kilkenny Castle was awesome. It was a fully restored castle and we were able to tour through 3 floors of rooms. They didn't allow cameras so I don't have any pictures, but it was really cool. After the tour we wandered around the streets of Kilkenny. We got some traditional Irish candy at a little sweet shop and bought some souvenirs to take home to the kids. Later we had an early dinner at Matt The Miller's Pub. I loved the rich wood, old stone walls and stain-glassed windows inside. I had the Bangers and Mash again. It was good, but not quite as good as the night before. Mom tried the "Matt's Famous Clonakilty Chicken: Roast supreme of chicken filled with Clonakilty black pudding (blood pudding), wrapped in streaky bacon and drizzled with scallion cream sauce." I tried some and it was pretty good! The thought of blood pudding makes me want to gag, even though I'm not sure I really know what it is. I was impressed that Mom ordered it...she was brave! I was only brave enough for a little bite. :)
We came back to the hotel early and Jason and I headed to the pool. This is a really fancy hotel and you are required to wear the robe and slippers to go down to the pool. We actually had the place to ourselves. It was really pretty and very hoity-toity feeling but fun to feel fancy for a second. We swam some laps and then decided to sit in the sauna. It was SOOOO hot! I've never sat in a sauna before. I was dripping with sweat in the dark, steamy room. It was hard to breath, the air was so humid. After forcing ourselves to stay in there for 10 minutes, we checked out the rest of the sauna. They had this small "shower" with an old fashioned bucket and chain at the top. So we pulled the chain and had a freezing cold bucket of water dumped on our heads. It was shocking and actually quite refreshing!
Tomorrow is our last full day of our trip. We are going to spend the day in the city (Dublin). And we got tickets to Riverdance. I'm really excited! And I'm even more excited to see my family again! I miss them so much.
The hotel lobby. It's pretty incredible!
I love this hot air balloon chandelier.
Kilkenny Castle.
Kilkenny Castle.
Kilkenny Castle.
Little shop in Kilkenny.
Matt The Miller Pub.
The Pub.
The little Sweet Shop.
I just loved this little apartment across the street from the castle.
Kilkenny Castle
This one's for Jeff! Trying to stay safe (awake) on the roads!
Ready for the pool!
The super fancy pool. They had little lights in the floor of the pool. It looked liked stars reflecting in the water.
The cold bucket in the sauna.
Refreshing!
Glendalough - The Round Tower and St. Kevin's "Kitchen" or church. They don't know why it's called St. Kevin's Kitchen but that's always what it's been called.
We hiked to the top of this little waterfall.
One little slip...
Irish Washing Machine...a clean stone and a mountain stream.
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