Our plan when we went to bed last night was to get an early start for Newgrange, then on to Kilkenny. Since Easter Monday is a holiday in Ireland, there was some major partying going on at our hotel last night. I woke up to a lot of noise and commotion outside about 2:30 a.m. When I looked out, there were cars, motorcycles and buses everywhere. I haven't seen so many vehicles out and about at that hour of the morning since the last time I was in Manhattan. People were yelling, and just generally partying, Irish style. So that got in the way of a good night's sleep. Yet, we actually got up at 7:00 a.m. today and checked out of Carrickdale Hotel and were on the road about 8:15 for Carlingford, which is reputed to be a charming little medieval town near the Irish Sea in County Louth.
Carlingford was as quiet as a room full of hungover college kids this morning when we got there. We were looking for somewhere to have breakfast, and found Dan's Cafe. Dan was inside when we walked in about 8:50 and said that he wasn't quite open yet, but that we were welcome to come in and sit down, so we did. After he took our orders, he sat down and visited with us, interrupting our chat only when his local patrons wandered in one-by-one. Dan was really pleasant, and told us he has only been to the USA a couple of times, and only to Seattle, where he said he has more relatives than he has in Ireland. Wouldn't you know that Irish find it nice to live in Seattle, where it rains as much as Ireland!
From Claringford we drove to Newgrange, to see the ancient tombs that we couldn't get tickets to see on Saturday. It was well worth the second effort. The tombs are at least 500 years older than the pyramids. Obviously the oldest site we've ever visited. It is also beautifully set in the peaceful Boyne Valley, which makes it an extra bonus!
Then it was on the motorway to Kilkenny. Kilkenny is a quaint medieval city of about 25,000. It's my kind of town--small enough to get around, big enough to offer plenty to do, and lots of old charm. We didn't have lodging lined up here as we have in our other over-nights in Ireland, so we relied on the "Ireland Travel 101" book to find a great, clean but modest room at the Butler Court Guest Accommodation on Patrick Street, which is very close to High Street, the Kilkenny Castle and an easy walk to shopping, pubs, restaurants and anything else we'll need here. I highly recommend this city and this hotel!
We got in on traditional Irish music at John Cleere's pub, which happens every Monday night. Three musicians played some great music, and then starting about 10:30 p.m., locals join one-by-one to sing a song or two. There was also a local poet, Jerry, who got up and recited a couple of humorous poems he had written. If you look up "local color" in the dictionary, you might just find a photo of Bev and me sitting in John Cleere's. All in all, it was a fun night, following another fun day!
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