Another week goes, and another week of memories are made as I continue to sink my teeth into history and culture of Ireland!
On the first stop of our weekend excursion, we traveled south to Kilkenny. We took a tour through Kilkenny Castle which was built in the 11th century and was privately owned until 1967 when it was gifted to the city of Kilkenny. It’s a beautiful palace which is now a museum that displays the history of Kilkenny. After the tour of the castle grounds, we had some free time where I took a ride on a trolley and got to explore the rest of Kilkenny. I ate at Kyteler’s Inn whose former owner – Alice Kyteler – was a successful woman entrepreneur who was accused of witchcraft. I had a fried Brie with a raspberry coulie there. Kilkenny is also known to have Ireland’s oldest beer, the Smithick, which I also had.
After our stop at Kilkenny, we traveled through the Wicklow mountains. “Wicklow” is translated from a Viking word which means “Viking’s way”, and they were routes commonly used by the Vikings after they settled in Ireland. The beauty of the Wicklow mountains is impossible to capture on camera, but it was a memorable sight watching the rolling hills, marshes, and bogs cross our view. We also saw very low stone walls which our tour guide said were some of the oldest known structures of all of human civilization which was amazing!
The next stop on our tour was Glendalough, which is the most famous Monastic sight in Ireland. We learned about the monks and how they served as the boundary between the secular world and the religious world. The monks were entrusted with preserving knowledge and artifacts, and they had a round tower where they would hide their artifacts as the Vikings invaded year after year for centuries. Also at Glendalough is the deer stone which was fabeled to have magic properties that would cure people. During the black plague, people would drink from the deer stone to cure themselves of the illness, and during the Irish famine people would drink from the deer stone to be cured of hunger.
After our weekend trip, we returned to Dublin. On Monday, we visited the National Museum of Ireland where we learned more about Irish history. Of the four different museums that are part of the National Museum, we went to the Archeology museum and learned about the Irish history starting all the way back in the mesolithic era. We learned that Ireland was only recently inhabited by humans as recent as 10,000 BCE because the path to Ireland was previously blocked off by glaciers during the last Ice age. After the first 5,000 years of being inhabited by the original Irishmen, the Vikings began attacking and pillaging Ireland. There are over 10,000 castles in Ireland because they were used to protect against rival clans/kingdoms, as well as the vikings.
Of course, it wasn’t all fun and learning. On Sunday, we had the Taste of Dublin food festival where dozens of different vendors from Dublin and across Ireland gathered together and sold their specialty dishes and gave away free samples. There was live music, outside seating, and some really great food. It was an Irish smorgasbord! I couldn’t eat anymore that day.
Also, after the National Museum tour on Monday, I walked over to Grogan’s Castle Lounge which was recommended to me by a couple of the locals as being a very chill and reasonable place to get a beer. I took the opportunity to try Guinness for the first time. Although I don’t regularly enjoy beer, Guinness is very smooth and not bitter at all, which I was very surprised about! I can see why the Irish drink so much beer. I can’t wait to see what adventures unfold next week!
