July 18, 2002
14/7/02 Kilkenny, Ireland (Phill)
14/7/02 Kilkenny, Ireland (Phill)
Grabbed a train to Kilkenny this morning, back on my own. I had read about a youth hostel near this city that is actually in a haunted castle, I had to come stay there! Kilkenny, the town, is a gorgeous gothic town. Tiny cobbled streets in the shadow of an immense castle (not the one I'm staying in) so did the tour of that. One thing I've noticed is that there is an insane amount of Italian's here. Bus after bus of tanned school kids pour off.
Getting to my hostel (castle) was really difficult. It’s actually 15 miles outside of town and no buses are running today. Ended up negotiating a taxi with a local (Mick) who was chatty the whole way. Pulled up to the castle, it's awesome! The owner is actually Scottish (so there's even a Scots flag flying up top). The castle is set in the middle of a major valley surrounded by amazing Irish scenery. I met a couple of Australia
n's (David and his mum) who were traveling Ireland and invited me to go with them to a local pub that night. When we got there this was indeed a 'local' pub. The social heart of the tiny village it was in. By far the friendliest pub I've ever been in, it was filled with older locals chatting and socializing. Plus, the reason we were there is that they throw together some Irish music every week. Not intended for tourists at all the twenty or so locals were singing and dancing and dragging us to dance with them. I did notice two younger girls that David and I made headway for. He had that Australia
n accent going for him and my accent (which has gotten very Scottish I think) wasn't quite as unique! Anyway, we chat with the girls and they invite us to go with some of the local people our age to a Disco in a neighboring town. We had to go.
Turns out there are only one taxi in this whole area, the same one (Mick) that I had caught earlier. This isn't exactly a rich area and we pile in a mini van (10 of, pretty squashed) and we chat to the 6 guys who have joined our party. Tell you what, if there's a fight tonight I want these guys on my side! Dead friendly in that charming Irish way and totally welcoming. Pay our 20euro's each to get in and walk past the rather hefty security. Once inside I really realize just how rough this area is! But we have a great time dancing etc... Watched a few fights and almost got beat up by some girls boyfriend. Definitely a night to remember!
Anyway, disco shuts at 3am and everyone is kicked out. Did I mention there's only one taxi? Yeah, a hundred or so people sprawl out into an area and there’s only one cop to control it all. Basically these are all neighboring towns who are visiting the only place to hang out for miles so it's quite a 'lively' bunch :) There's no taxi around so everyone is frantically calling to find Mick. Poor guy. When he does finally show up he's surrounded by people he knows basically trying to convince him that they should take him first. The drive to the next town is about 20 minutes each way so you can understand why people don't want to wait hours for their turn.
Our girls kind of get swept aside by some others who know Mick much better. Dave and I are pretty frustrated at this point because there's absolutely no way to get out of this situation, plus the girl who's boyfriend isn't exactly liking me keeps trying to talk to me while he growls at me. Crazy, crazy stuff. Eventually Dave and I see that Mick's defiantly not going to have room for us (there's 12 people currently in his minivan) so we think we might be able to play the dumb tourists and convince the cops to give us a ride home. However, the other girl (sorry I can't remember any names, bloody Guinness) grabs us across and tries to talk her way into the van. I do the same and remind Mick who I am and that we had chatted that day. Boy am I glad I was nice to him and he pushes us in the back of van. So 14 of us are crammed in this van and the people who were already weren’t exactly happy we were there! The guy next to me is wearing a Celtic Football club shirt (my team) and so we chat about that and instantly we're accepted. Boy am I glad I support that team!
We make it past the cops who turn a blind eye to this rather dangerous crowded van and make it home. Boy was I glad to see my bed that night! But absolutely the highlight of Ireland. I mean we really were Irish for the night; Lonely Planet guidebooks can't give you that!
Posted by Admin at July 18, 2002 03:02 AM