Ireland—Cycles & Stone Circles

We left County Donegal by a morning bus, along with the new friends we made on the bike trip. Julie and Elise, who live in central Pennsylvania, were going to Dublin before heading home; we needed to travel there to pick up a car for the remainder of our Ireland trip (no car rentals in Donegal).

We've found it's a little more challenging driving on the left than it is biking on the left. Knowing that our small vehicle is positioned within the narrow lanes tests our abilities, but we're getting the hang of it!

On our first day out we had one stop of interest, which was the Brownshill Portal Tomb. The granite capstone is believed to weigh over 150 tons, making it likely the largest of its kind in Europe.

We arrived for the night in the town of Kilkenny, whose origins date back to the 6th century, but the church, its castle and much of the town structures are from medieval times.

Our hotel (The Butler House) was the dower house for the Kilkenny Castle (where Lady Grantham would have lived if Downton Abbey was set in Ireland!). The hotel has beautiful gardens in the back and a good view of the castle.

An anachronistic feature of the garden is a grouping of square stone blocks, carved with letters, surrounding the lily pond. The stones came from the base of Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, which was blown up in 1966 by the Irish Republican Army because of its symbolism of British power. No one seems to know why the remnants were brought to the Butler House garden in Kilkenny.

In the morning, we visited the Kilkenny museum, which is on the site of the town's old church and graveyard. The museum houses many artifacts of the time, including letters, petitions, ceremonial swords, etc. We also learned that there is a Carnegie library in Kilkenny. One of the petitions complained about some women who sold "half-baked bread," but the descriptive plaque suggested it could have been that the bakers guild just didn't want the competition from women who were trying to support their families.

From Kilkenny, we drove on toward Cork for our overnight, but first we stopped at the Rock of Cashel—a castle ruin and church high on a rocky hill. It was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster (early Irish rulers) as early as the 4th century. The chapel at the site was originally richly colored with precious pigments such as gold leaf, lapis lazuli (blue) from Afghanistan and vermillion (red) from Spain.Læs mere