Hurling and a Big Rock

Our departure from Dublin was early today so we had to have our bags ready for pickup outside of our door at 7AM. Once we had our breakfast at the hotel we boarded our tour bus and headed out for Kilkenny.

Stephen, our tour guide from Ireland provided us a lot of history and interesting facts abuot Dublin as we drove through Dublin one last time.

Our first stop of the day was at an athletic field in Kilkenny where we got to learn about and and practice the game of Hurling from 2 men who started playing at a very young age and now play at a high level for a team in Kilkenny. The sport is pretty brutal and very fast. Both girls and boys start playing when they are very young. You must be born in the town you playfor, and even the professional hurlers make no money. They do it for the love of the sport.

Hurling looks bit like lacrosse. It is played with a small hard ball. Each player carries a wooden hurley whcih which is used to score points. Everyone who was interested, which was most of the people in our tour got to practice moving the ball around the field balanced on their stick, catching it in their bare hands and scoring with their hurley. Everyone had a great time. At the end everyone posed for pictures with their team’s flag and the most recent trophy won by Kilkenny.

Lunch in Kilkenny was at the Legends Hurling Pub which sponsors the local Hurling team, The food was great and as we ate lunch we got to see a professional hurling match which was being played in Dublin. One of the coaches from our hurling lesson joined us at lunch and proudly pointed out all of the memorabilia in the pub.

After lunch we had time to walk around the town. There is a very large castle in the town that dates back to 800AD just after the Norman conquest of Ireland. The castle has been rebuilt multiple times but some of the original structure remains. The large grounds are open to the public.

Kilkenny is a small town with most restaurants and shops on one Main Street and a few side streets. There was an arts festival going on with all local artists. It was nice to talk to some of the local artists and view their art. We also bought a few things at the arts festival.

After boarding our bus we headed south to the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel which is also known as St Patrick’s Rock or Castle of the Kings. It is a series of buildings located on a hill surrounded by beautiful green countryside. At the top of the hill is a cluster of buildings that were originally the seat of the King of Munster. In the 5th century the king was converted to Christianity by St Patrick at this site, or so the legend goes. There was a large cathedral built on the site around 1100 but it is mostly in ruins. Some of the other structures which were built shortly afterwards are mostly in tact. The round tower was built of stone and no mortar was used in its construction. It is 98 feet high and only extends 3 feet into the ground.

Our last stop for today took us south to Killarney where we will stay for 2 nights at the Great Southern Hotel, a beautiful hotel built in 1854 and meticulously maintained. After arriving at the hotel and resolving an issue with being given a room on the 4th floor in a wing with a broken elevator, we had time for a short walk in town before dinner. Charlie spotted a trampoline harness setup for kids and wanted to try it. Not sure where he gets his energy because everyone else was pretty tired.