After spending one night in Cork we continued to drive to Kilkenny. On the way to Kilkenny we stopped to visit the Blarney Castle as well as the famous Blarney Stone. From the very beginning I refused to kiss it, so many bacteria I just can’t think about it. Matt took one for the team to gain some eloquence. The castle itself is well preserved and the grounds are beautiful. We spent multiple hours here before heading to the next stop, the Rock of Cashel. This is a medieval church perched on a hill. We picked a good time to go at 3pm meaning it was quiet and peaceful to visit. From there we continued to Kilkenny where we checked into a hotel and had KFC in our room (glamorous and necessary). The following day we visited Kilkenny castle before the 120km per hour drive along the M9 highway to Dublin.

Cork

Blarney Castle and grounds

Matt very excited to kiss the stone

Matt kissing the stone

Rock of Cashel

Kilkenny and Castle

We stayed in a hostel in a Dublin in the absolute middle of the city. A dorm room combined with the street noise meant not a lot of sleep for two nights. We really enjoyed Dublin city, making sure we made the most of the last of our pints and pub crawls for a while.

We visited the Guiness Factory which was fantastic. The industrial and interactive building gave us an appreciation of how Guiness is made. At the end we got to pour our own pint. Before this moment I had never tried Guiness and wanted to save my first ever sip for the factory itself. It was interesting, an acquired taste perhaps. After the factory we visited two more famous pubs, Ireland’s oldest, The Brazen Head and the tourist hotspot, Temple Bar. Several beers later we headed home ready to fly to Amsterdam the following day.

Hungry tree

Guiness factory

First ever Guiness

Dublin

We are currently in Rotterdam after five days in the Netherlands. We love it here and are sad to have to move on tomorrow but are also really looking forward to six days in Belgium. Netherlands post to come when I get another spare hour or two.