Of the towns that we have visited in the area Kilkenny has been the pick of them as the city centre is more compact, there are some nice shop frontages to admire, it has a nice feel to it, it is bustling and it has the Castle so it is no surprise that we returned today and spent about 6 hours there.
Something we noticed were the quaintly named lanes or passageways running off the Main Street.
After lunch, in The Fig Tree, we visited the Castle which sits dramatically on a hill towards the top of the city area and looks over the River Nore.
The original castle was built by the Earl of Pembroke during the first decade of the 13th century and it later became the principal Irish residence of the powerful Butler family for almost 600 years.
The Butler ownership began when James, 3rd Earl of Ormond purchased the castle in c.1391 and lasted until 1967 when Arthur, 6th Marquess of Ormonde presented it to the people of Kilkenny in return for a token payment of £50.
The family sold almost all the content of the castle in a 10 day auction in 1935. The buildings have been in the care of the office of Public Works since 1969.
The visit allows you to walk through various rooms some of which were:
State Dining Room 
Tapestry Room
Library
Picture Gallery Wing
In the garden there was a fountain which if you were lucky might spray you with some cooling water - ever since we arrived in London we have enjoyed superb weather with temperatures around 22-28 and today was one of the 28s.
If we had an Euro for every time a shop/cafe/restaurant server said “it’s not a problem” to either us or someone in our earshot our trip would be paid for! The thing is that it is genuinely not a problem.
Tomorrow we move further west.
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