Day 1 - (Part 3) An accidental Pub Crawl Ensues.

The final part of the Day 1 Chapter starts thusly:

When last we left our hero's they had conked out in there B&B bed like a couple of light weights after a mere 30 hours of being on the go...

Anita and I woke up about 7pm - very hungry.  We had a great day with Geraldine and had discovered a a lot of information thanks to her.  We thought we should get up, walk around a bit and get some supper.  If we went back to sleep, we'd just be up too early again.  So we headed to downtown Kilkenny City, on Saturday night, at 8 pm.  

Kilkenny City is not unlike most other small cities in the world on a Saturday night. Bustling with groups of young drinkers starting their Saturday drinking binge.  Stag parties.  Music, etc.  Also full of middle-to-older age drinkers out for supper and hobnobbing with friends.  

It is also, at the same time, unlike any other small city in world.  In about a 10 square block area there must be 200 public houses (Pubs.)  Most of which have been some type of Pub, owned by one family, for one or two hundred years.  Some of the pubs date back several hundred years and were serving drinks to medieval soldiers who worked at castle for the local nobleman and served the local gentry merchants of the area.  There is lot of history here. 

A nod to the history of the country.  One of the things you will be struck by when visiting Ireland is the age of the places here.  The city of Kilkenny dates back prior to the 1200's.  It was a walled city for much of its history. Much of the original wall is still standing.  However where the original city wall was knocked down for streets or passages there are blocks set into sidewalk saying "City Wall 1275.  Some parts of the still standing Kilkenny Castle date back 800 years.

So we started our walk around this ancient place, found a Pub with pizza on the menu and walked in.  the place was called Matt the Miller's. It is sports pub until 10 o'clock, when, like so many of the pubs in town, it turns into a dance club for the twenty-somethings of the city.  However, right now it was more of mostly men, but a lot of women also, pounding down pints and watching one of the big screen TV's that all had the same thing on - the Hurling match.

It turns out Saturday evening was one of the national finals playoff matches for the sport of Hurling.  And not just any Hurling match. The Kilkenny Cats were playing for their third in row championship cup.  So naturally it was an exciting night in Kilkenny.  The match was in Dublin. And Kilkenny won.  Defeating Galway, winning the Leinster League championship and earning a spot in the final of the ALL Ireland playoff.  

Suffice it to say, it got loud, rowdy and fun in Kilkenny Saturday night.  And we were right in the middle of it.

The Irish people are some of nicest people in the world.  As soon as they find you are visitor, they start talking to you.  Telling you all about anything you want to know.  Trying to make you feel comfortable.  Add alcohol to the situation, and it gets even friendlier.

The long and short of this Part 3:  We got to watch the last 20 minutes of the match while eating our pizza and drinking a couple of pints with the locals.  Then we walked around downtown visiting several of the older pubs suggested by some of the folks we met.  All great advice.  Found some wonderful old pubs.  Drink a pint or two at each, and finally made back to room around 12:30 am.

A grand time was had by all.  It was a very long, very tiring, very satisfying first day in Ireland.  If this first day was an example of the trip, we are going to have a very good time.

I have a little more to share about our night out and the last pub we stopped at.  A very old, tiny little place way off the main path called the Home Rule Club.  Interesting place.  Story to come in the next day or so. 

So ends the Day 1 Blog.  

I doubt any of the remaining entries will take 3 parts to cover a day.  So hang in there and thanks for reading thru this long entry.

Look over the Day 1 pictures if you like:  Day 1 Pictures

Have a great day.  More to come.

Anita & Jim