Kilkenny is a small city, 3 hours from Dublin by bus with around 9000 population (2006). First beside Dublin I’d like to go to Galway but somehow every times I did reservation  hotel/ bed n’ breakfast  in Galway, its always full book. So I turned to Kilkenny. At least I know about Kilkenny beer and had a thought that perhaps Trey Parker and Matt Stone created Kenny character in South Park after base on this Kilkenny city (I mean the name hehe…).

We arrived at Kilkenny around 1pm. Helen, the owner of Pinecrest bed n’ breakfast which I book by email said I can call her when I arrived in bus stop so she can pick us up. But unfortunately that day she has problem with her phone so we couldn’t contact her. And the worst was that the address of Pinecrest is without house number (its common in Kilkenny). Its only mention, Pinecrest – Bishop Meadow, Kilkenny. So daniel and I quite dazzled and puzzled.

But people in bus station were nice, the information guy, the ticket guy, the guys who just standing outside tried to help us as much as they could. So finally we got clue and moved forward to Pinecrest. We walked. No public transport in Kilkenny cos its bloody small city. So yes…we walked with those big bags.

Helen’s son greeted us nicely. We had hot coffee, cookies and nice room. Pinecrest is much-much better than our B n’ B in Dublin. Minutes later, Helen and husband, Liam came from shopping and we had chit-chat with them. It was very nice to meet them. And Liam, of course showed Daniel some stunning Irish Bar.

John Cleere Bar is one of them. It’s a red color bar with Irish music. The bar looked solemn from outside but its fun inside. The two bartender were friendly and it was quite a lot tourist in the bar. All of them, including us, like to listen to irish music and sing along together (no, not me :p).

Somehow I couldn’t  find Kilkenny beer there. I asked the bartender and she said, beside more expensive than other brands, Kilkenny also taste ugly. Hm, well…

We stayed 2 days in Kilkenny. Kilkenny is small city with rich heritages to visit. Cathedral St. Canice is my favorite. But Kilkenny Castle, St Mary Cathedral also stunning. Walking around the city also enjoyable. When I'm in Dublin I feel like tourist, when I’m in Germany I feel like stranger…but when I’m in Kilkenny, I feel like home!

Definitely will visit again one-day :)

Pics: Parliament street at night, Irish breakfast at Pinecrest and Kilkenny Courthouse