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.
