Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Day 209, 7 Jan '15, Kilkenny Castle and lunch at Kytelers... our new "local". "Never, Ever, Pay Retail" would have to be one of our favourite expressions. So when we knew we were coming to Ireland we started researching heritage spots to visit, what was open and how much it would cost. Lots of places, not much open and a bit expensive if you visit a few - between €4 and €7 a pop. We researched the annual pass at €25. Hmmmm - would we find enough places open to make it worthwhile? Maybe. Maybe not. In the end we decided against it and just got clever. For instance... the miracle of Open Wednesday. First Wednesday of every month is free entry to the Office of Public Works/Heritage Ireland properties. So today the three of us headed back to Kilkenny to visit the Castle. Now it's well and good to have Open Wednesdays... but it certainly pays to know about it, because I'm pretty sure we were going to get charged full rate (€21 for three of us) until I mentioned the magic "Open Sesame (Wednesday)" words. Woo hoo! Made it straight onto a guided tour and it was fabulous - the lushness of the furnishings and decor was incredible. The Butler family left the castle behind in the mid '30s when they emigrated to a better life in the USA. There was a massive sale over the course of 10 days and the contents of the castle were sold off for a bit of travelling dosh. All but the large marble table in the entry hall. This was in fact the family "laying out" table where the deceased were displayed for people to pay their last respects. Aside from the superstitions attached (bad luck to touch it for instance... though it was probably a tour guide who came up with that), it was probably just too heavy to shift. When the last of the clan returned in the '60s he sold the castle itself to the people of Kilkenny for the princely sum of fifty Irish pounds - just enough to cover the legal costs of transfer. Much restoration has been done and as much original furniture as possible has been sourced. They've even gone back to manufacturers and had new carpets made to original patterns and so forth. Great stuff... even more fun since it was free. The weather was better in Kilkenny than it was at home - still cold and wet... but not actually raining - brilliant stuff. Being creatures of habit we returned to our Kilkenny local, Kyteler's Inn. It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that the most well known and most popular is somehow bad and to be avoided. However. Having scoured the central area of Kilkenny the other day and done some serious price and atmosphere comparisons, quite often the most popular is thus for very good reason - it's good. Loads of locals dining and quaffing at Kytelers and we joined right in before piling back in the car and heading straight back into the worsening weather to walk off lunch with the lads and lasses of our home zoo. We may or may not end up back in Kilkenny - perhaps even for a few nights at the end of our current housesit. We'll see how we go, but at least we've accomplished the castle visit (and for the right price).
- comments