Ireland, Kilkenny - NodeJS conf pt 2

Last day of the conference I was able to go sightseeing. It was nice to be back here since 2 years ago, when we were on a motorcycle tour, we had just a quick stop to have lunch and visit the castle.

I took some tourists map and went on a walk. The town isn't big so it is easy to see all attractions in one day. First stop - tourists office.

Don't let the look fool you, this is the tourists office

this is where we ate lunch 2 years ago :)

Smithwick's beer is a must when in Kilkenny

totally cool doors

St. Canice's Cathedral with its tower on the right

St. Canice's Cathedral has a tower that you can visit for 4€. If you are claustrofobic, you would be better off to skip the visit because it is very narrow inside, the ladders you have to climb are steep and you can barely pass by someone - and only on the lower parts of the tower. So if there are some visitors already inside, maybe you will have to wait for them to come back down. Also, if you are overweight, it might be very hard (if not impossible) for you to even get to the topmost ladders. It was challenging to me, and I am normal weight.

The tower is the oldest standing structure in Kilkenny and also a view point. The view point part is a bit disappointing because the windows are very small and they have bars on it, but the whole experience was interesting.

ladders on the topmost part, you can see the narrow space between platform and the ladders where you have to squeeze

Next stop was St Canice's Parish.

St Canice's Parish

While I was in the street in front of the Parish, waiting for the green traffic light with my tourist map in my hands and totally looking like a tourist, a man approached me and asked if he could be of some help.We started talking and he said he has some time to show me the city, so - why not :)

His name was Tom and he told me some historical facts about places I wanted to visit. For instance, on this very fence bellow the Englishmen had spiked some Irishmen. He also told me some stories about a slaughterhouse. It was all on the way to Dominican Black Abbey, very beautiful, small chapel.

Black Abbey

inside Black Abbey

inside Black Abbey

inside Black Abbey

Inside the Black Abbey there was also a pre-reformation statue of St. Dominic without arms - he was mutilated during the Cromwellian siege of Kilkenny and the Black Abbey in 1650.

Next stop - St. Mary's Cathedral. Inside there is a body of a 13yo girl who was killed by the Englishmen while going to church.

While Tom was telling me all this stories, I could feel that the past was never left in the past. It wasn't forgotten, but it seems that it was also not forgiven, not even after that much time has passed.

St. Mary's Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral

St. Mary's Cathedral

After St. Mary's Cathedral we said goodbye and I went to buy some souvenirs and to get a beer at Smithwick's.

Grace's Castle; old jail and courthouse

Smithwick's

Smithwick's

Smithwick's red ale

 

It was 6pm (18h) when the waiter turned off the music. One thing I didn't count on, since in my city every shop is working at least until 8pm (20h), is that here everything closes in 6pm. It didn't even occurred to me that something like that can happen so at that time I had my glass half full (or half empty, if you are a pessimist :)). I finished my drink and decided to went back to the hotel. It was pretty dark already anyway, and there was a long day waiting for me tomorrow.

Ireland, Kilkenny - NodeJS conf pt 1

I went to the NodeJS conference which took place in Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny, Ireland. Tech stuff aside, it was also very interesting because of the fieldtrips we could go to.

NodeJS conference

We went to Ballykeefe distillery, distillery close to Kilkenny, that is just 2 years old - too young to even have their own irish whiskey yet (irish whiskey has to be at least 3 years old to be called that). So, next year they will have their first batch.

 

What is cooking?

But what they did have was very good - gin, poitin and vodka. We went to a distillery tour and tried their spirits. Everything was very good and I especially liked their gin. It already won some impressive awards, just like poitin and vodka.

Ballykeefe distillery owner

gin tonic

I never heard about Poitin before so it was interesting to learn something new. Poitin is traditional Irish distilled beverage. It was illegaly (home)made in small pots (hence the name) in defiance of a legal ban that started in 1661. It even outdates whiskey and can have as much as 90% ABV. By 1989, legal production for export was finally allowed, and in 1997 the Irish Revenue Commissioners allowed the drink to be sold for consumption within Ireland.

the story about Poitin

What I really liked about this distillery is that they are eco-friendly. They are producing their own grain and then feeding their livestock with the by-products of distilling. Ofcourse, from livestock they get high-quality compost. They are trying to be sustainable as much as possible.

Croatia - sailing - day 7 - Jezera, Murter

Last day of the course. Sunrise was beautiful and once again the morning was without wind. Or, more correct, this time we had very light wind and sea current so H decided to be very patient and sail the boat for hours on just 0.2-0.3 knots, back to Jezera. 0.2 knots is something like 370m/h so we went slower than somebody from a nursing home. But still, we were progressing. 

sunrise

 

After few hours of agony (for Anja, Laura and me) and joy (for H) the wind started to pick up and we were finally able to see the spinnaker at work. Yeeeey :)

spinnaker up!

In the afternoon we got back to Jezera and figured it was time to treat ourselves with some good Dalmatian food - fish, mussles, squid and shrimp.

restaurant's cat

dinner

Tomorrow morning we are going back to Zagreb and are already planning for the next sailing trip.

Croatia - sailing - day 6 - Žirje

Today's forecast - SW wind. And yet again, it is exactly in our direction so no spinnaker.
But even worse - when we got out of marina, there was no wind whatsoever, so we spent the whole day on engine while going to Žirje island.

no wind

there was a fire on the mainland, these plains tried to put it out

Yesterday we saw dolphins but they were very far away. Today we had more luck with them. We saw at least 15-20 specimens, and some of them decided to go closer to us.

dolphins

dolphins

In the evening we got to Žirje Island, waited for night to fall, and then went for a night sailing. It was an interesting experience. There was no Moon, and the stars were scarse because of the clouds, but the visibility was surprisingly good. 

night sailing

During night we went from Žirje to west part of Murter and tied the sailing boat to a buoy of some restaurant. Again we saw dolphins, they were very close to the boat and followed us for a few minutes.

Croatia - sailing - day 5 - Dugi Otok

Today we are going to Dugi Otok, place called Sali. There is a marina where we are going to stay overnight.
In the morning there was no wind at all, so we waited a little bit more and hoped for the best.

no wind in Vrulje this morning

donkeys in Vrulje

When we went outside of Vrulje, wind started a little (NW, so again no spinnaker) and we managed to pull 4 knots when going to Telaščica, the Park of Nature.

enjoying in the shade

My skin is very pale, I get sunburns easily, and last few days were without bigger clouds so it was sunny all the time. Luckily at least it wasn't hot because we were moving. But today, after leaving Telaščica, wind just stopped. So, after a while we decided to go by engine, it was impossible to sail.

no wind, no waves

In the afternoon we got to Sali. It is a small town that used to be industrial, so now it has few abandoned buildings near marina that just look so sad, with broken windows. Besides that, the town is cute, with small houses and narrow streets that go upwards.

Sali

Sali

One thing I didn't like is the marina's facilities. They don't work non stop (like for instance in Jezera) but have rather short working hours (6:30-11:00, 17:00-23:00), have very few toillets and showers, and many things were broken.

Croatia - sailing - day 4 - Kornati National Park

Our first day of sailing outside Murter. But first, another class - how to put the spinnaker up.
Unfortunatelly we won't be able to put the theory into practise just yet because the wind will be NW, and this is exactly the course we will take to get to Kornati National Park. For spinnaker you have to have the wind behind you.

leaving Murter, wind is good

Kornati in the distance

Kornati National Park

interesting vegetation on one of the islands

In the late afternoon we arrived in Vrulje on Kornati. Because Kornati is a National Park, you can sail around it but you cannot anchor for free. So your choises are either to pay a daily ticket or to stop on the dock of some restaurant. We chose the latter, because te daily ticket is almost the same price as the dinner for 5 of us (ofcourse, if you decide to dock on a restaurant's property, you are oblidged to eat there).
In Vrulje you can hike to a hilltop and from there you can enjoy the view. The hike is a short one.

view on Kornati islands from hilltop

view on Vrulje from a hilltop

sunset from Vrulje