We woke up early to take a morning walk in Old Town Kilkenny before breakfast. Kilkenny is one of Ireland’s most beautiful towns, and has been of importance since the 13th century – it was even the capital of Ireland a long time ago.
Eight degrees only, but silence and sunshine. A very pleasant walk.
Decadent? Well, a fun travel theme you just have to see more of here!
One of the most famous hotels in Madrid – Palace Hotel. Many of the world’s most famous people have stayed here: David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Henry Kissinger, Mata Hari…to mention just a few of them.
Go to Cee for more buildings!
The name Bunratty, Bun Raite (or possibly, Bun na Raite) in Irish, means ”river basin” of the ‘Ratty’ river. This river, alongside the Bunratty Castle, flows into the nearby Shannon Estuary. We visited for some hours and really enjoyed its genuin feel.
The first recorded settlement at the site may have been a Norsemen settlement/trading camp reported in the Annals of the Four Masters. in 977. But several castles were built – and lost – here.
The fourth castle, the present structure, was built around 1425. In 1956, the castle was purchased and restored by the 7th Viscount Gort, with assistance from the Office of Public Works. He reroofed the castle and saved it from ruin. The castle was opened to the public in 1960, and with its genuin 16th-17th century furniture, tapestries and works of art it has become a great tourist attraction.
Our Swedish National Day – has to be something blue and yellow then!
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Gardens
My favourite garden is here in Sweden…but I can sometimes dream of having a really grand garden…with big trees and open grounds with perfect lawns. And of course, in my dreams there is always a giant greenhouse with rare and exotic plants.
Yes,,,you can always dream…
In Dublin there are many capturing buildings, but never did I imagine myself trying to photograph shopping centres…and with such relish.
St Stephen’s Green felt like a rather newly built, modern place, with all the light and all the windows I could dream of.
So, we went inside to explore. And I truly found a dream of white and green – the same fresh green colour dominating many of the interior decorations we saw in Ireland.
Quite the cake! We walked through the whole building and found the architecture fresh and matching in every detail.
Then we walked up to one of Dublin’s oldest shopping centres, Powerscourt. I wanted to see the old mahogany staircase – original from the 18th century.
Live piano music filled the air with dreams from another century…
…and the open court was an old style dream – filled with lovely tea drinkers chatting away…
But nowhere was the mahogany staircase to be found. We marvelled at old hat shops and new hat shops, colourful furniture, jewellery stores and old, wooden floors. Where was the staircase? When we had given up trying – we finally found it on our way out, at the back of the store.
I first saw it in the mirror, and was so taken in by it, that I found myself in the mirror as well…
In the 18th century…the wood carvers were very skilled. The smooth feeling of the wood, the beauty of colour and shine, the intricate patterns… I wonder how long it took them to finish this magnificent staircase.
I guess I loved both shopping centres – but only in one of them had a kindred soul.
My lifelong relationship with books and literature makes me visit every library I come across. Going to Dublin meant I would be able to visit one of the most fantastic libraries I know of –
Trinity College, Dublin – I had seen the Long Room in some photos before – and of course the Book of Kells. This old library makes a perfect Harry Potter setting….and already walking through the gates, into campus, sent pleasant electrical shocks along my spine… Soon I would enter the magic…
The long Room is the main chamber of the Old Library, and is nearly 65 metres in length, housing around 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books. It also contains the oldest surviving harp in Ireland.
Just to the left of the Shakespeare bust, is the magnificent spiral staircase. And then –
Leya 
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