Ireland: Ballyvaughan to Kilkenny

5.31.09 - The biggest news today is that there is now a real-deal post with pictures and everything below! Hopefully, more of that will follow soon - but it's not happening tonight. It's nearly 1:00 a.m., so here are the highlights of today:

We eat another amazing breakfast at Cappebhaile House. This time it is scrambled eggs with smoked salmon smoked in Irish oak at a town about twenty kilometers from here. It is the sweetest, silkiest textured smoked salmon we have ever had.

We fill up and head south throughout the south Burren. Some highlights:

Poulnabrone is a portal tomb dating to about 3,000 B.C.   The remains of thirty-three people are contained here.

This is the Carran Church.  It's a 15th Cenutry medieval church ruins. 

Located at the intersection of the R476 Corofin-Kilnaboy road and the R480 road is Leamanagh Castle.  The first section of the castle was begun in 1490.  It's most famous resident was Marie Rua, who was historically a remarkable person and by legend was a husband killer. 

After passing through the south Burren, we head east through Limerick toward Kilkenny. As we approach the town of Thurles, we come into thousands of people, some in red jerseys, some in blue, walking through the streets, taking all of the lanes of traffic, all walking toward Semple Stadium for the Munster Championship in hurling between Cork and Tipperary. Hurling, you say? Right. Not something everyone knows about, but it is indeed a very big deal here. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling to learn about hurling.

We finally reach Kilkenny. After circling different blocks many times, we finally find our hotel, the Butler House. Our room in this 1800's building is huge and great. We have dinner at Langston's and, funny enough, get to watch the Munster Championship on the television there. We then call it an early night. Tomorrow we see Kilkenny castle, drive through Wexford, then head to Dublin for our last two nights in Ireland.