Kilkenny

Cork is quite a big and modern city - second to Dublin - and I'm sure that it has some great things to offer. But, Jolene and I decided we would prefer to make an early start for our next destination rather than go half-corked. So we said goodbye and we were quickly on our way to Kilkenny.

The drive was again on major highways so the only thing we had to watch out for was the garda and radar cameras. The little skoda really had pep and I couldn't hear the engine at all...so there were moments there when I would look down at the speedometer to see that I was clipping along at 160! (the speed limit was 110) Sadly, the radio remained quite useless as a musical form of distraction.

Kilkenny has very old roots dating to the sixth century, but truly made it's mark when it became an important monastic center in the eighth century. It isn't a very big town, but its charms are immediately apparent, with old stone buildings, cobbled streets and charming colourful shops and pubs. Our hostel was in a great location, right in the thick of things. We quickly dropped off our stuff and went for a stroll. 


During our meandering we happened upon  Kilkenny Castle, hard to miss really when you see the size of it. Built on the bank of the river Nore as a defensive position, the first stone castle was completed in 1213 by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke. Three of the original towers still stand today. 
In 1391 the castle was sold to a wealthy and powerful family called the Butlers of Ormonde, or the Butler family. The family remained living in the castle until 1935 when they sold the contents for £6000...clearly they were hard up for cash. In 1967 the family finally gave up the castle, which was by now falling into ruin. Much of if has now been carefully restored to it's former glory, including hand painted wallpaper from China which was painstakingly reproduced from an original scrap and old photographs.

We continued to wander the streets of Killenny, just enjoying the feel of the place - not too serious, not too touristy...although we did see a guy in a knight's chain mail giving a private tour to a family.  Eventually we were brought home by hunger. Having bought something at the local supermarket, we made our dinner and then planned something for the evening. You know it involved a local pub and possibly some cider.

 I was told by the gent who ran the hostel that there was a pub, round the corner, where there was often live music (the longer I had him talking the Irish-er his accent got...he even said feck - t'was grand). So that night, that's where we went. 

The Brewery Counter is a pub that offers a wide selection of O'Hara beer. No cider. Ah well, Guiness is not the only company that brews an Irish stout so I thought I'd give the O'Hara mob a go. Y'all know I hate beer, right? This is me trying new things.

This is what their site says about their stout:

TASTING NOTES:

Description: Traditional dry Irish stout at 4.3% ABV.

Appearance: A deep black colour with a reddish hue when held to the light. It pours with a thick creamy head that is almost tan in colour.

Aroma: On the nose the drinker experiences a rich and complex coffee aroma with light liquorice notes.

Flavour: This Stout has a robust roast flavour with a full bodied and smooth mouth feel. The roast flavours lead to a dry espresso like finish.

Aftertaste: A generous addition of Fuggles hops lead to a tart bitterness which mingles with the roast espresso flavours on the tongue.

...they fail to mention the distinct after taste of earwax and sweat. 

I managed to drink half the pint, ok, maybe a quarter. Jolene, who had already finished the Irish Red she had ordered, seemed to enjoy it more than I did.  I had to fall back on the old red wine.

Apart from the beer, this bar had 3 bands playing that night and some poetry readings. The bands were all really good, but we couldn't really hear the poets when they spoke, which is too bad as the people down the front seemed to really enjoy them. The ambiance was great in this place. This is the pub experience we had imagined. We soaked it all in until quite late and walked home our ears buzzing with the sound of laughter and camaraderie.

We were sorry we didn't have more time to spend in this lovely town. Tomorrow we were on our way back to Dublin.

One night in Cork

There's a major highway that leads straight to Cork, so we wound our way towards it and soon we were pelting down a nice, wide, multi-lane roadway. With the road easy and straight-forward before us we thought that we would try out the radio. Until this point, we were concentrating on getting our bearings, watching out for small sign posts, or hey, just enjoying the scenery. Now, on this long stretch of road with mostly fields on either side we cranked the tunes!

You know how the Irish have a reputation of being gregarious and talkative? Yeah...there was a lot of talking on the radio. A lot. Up and down the dial we went - talking, talking, talking. If we were lucky enough to find a song playing, it was usually followed by lots and lots of talking...very frustrating! We did find better selections of station when we were closer to major cities, but otherwise, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph can those guys can talk!

The southern part of Ireland, where we now found ourselves is relatively flat, with green pastures and farmed land. We arrived in Cork during afternoon rush hour, of course the hostel we were staying at was on the opposite side from where we came in. We finally made it after circling around the one way streets of the neighbourhood a couple of times. It was a beautiful Georgian place with a sweeping front lawn. But there were pressing matters to attend to, we were starving. We dropped off our stuff and went foraging...for a restaurant.

The hostel is located directly in front of the Cork University College, so we figured that there would be heaps of food-like options available, but alas we were mistaken. We did come across a couple of places, but their vegetarian options were scant or non-existent. Then...
 lo! We came upon Cafe Paradiso. A very fancy vegetarian restaurant.

Jolene ordered the deep fried summer squash flowers with pea & ricotta filling, smoked pepperonata, green onion polenta and basil sauce, and I ordered the
spiced pan fried tofu with asian greens, gingered coconut-tamarind sauce,
rice noodles, and shiitake fritter. We certainly were not going to have cider with this fine meal, so we ordered a nice red wine. They brought us some tapas to start; spiced peanuts, seasoned black and green olives, and some sort of savoury sesame seed brittle...yum!! The meals were superbly delicious, and we remarked on the contrast of our surroundings from just a couple of days ago; from lunching on a hilltop with nature's stark, lonely  beauty laid bare before us; to the opulence of a fine meal, with a fine wine...all of which cost close to 3 times the price of our room that night. "Civilisation" is a strange thing.

Although we were tempted by the desert menu (which included, dark chocolate & olive oil mousse with cherries and spiced almond brittle, gooseberry & almond tartlet with amaretto custard and spiced caramel, and strawberry pavlova with passion fruit syrup to name a few) we desisted and ended up strolling back to the hostel. Once there, I'm rather ashamed to say that we fell promptly asleep.