Kilkenny to Cork

Kilkenny Castle
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The last few days have been quite touristy, we went on a tour of Kilkenny Castle which was really interesting and wandered around the narrow winding streets of the town, then headed to Waterford.  On the way we stopped at the ruins of Jerpoint Abbey for a guided tour and we also drove through many cute towns with old arched stone bridges, colourful houses and bright green fields.

While in Waterford we of course stopped at the crystal factory for a tour and it was well worth it, we got to see all the different stages of their craft, from glass blowing to etching and cutting the designs into the crystal.  It was really really interesting and we could have watched it all day.  But instead the tour ended and we were directed into the shop....... a lot of damage could have been inflicted, on our AMEX, but in the end we bought a beautiful vase that should already be on it's way home to Australia.

4 guided tours in 2 days - only one with a drink at the end

Jerpoint Abbey
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From Waterford to Cork we drove along as many coast roads as possible which meant some tiny roads, but also some gorgeous scenery, with cliffs, bright green fields, thatched roof cottages, stone fences, standing stones and so on.

On the way we stopped at the old Jamesons whiskey factory and had a tour which was interesting to find out how whiskey is made and also how it used to be made in an old stone building.  The tour of course ended with a sample :-)

We eventually arrived in Cork and we don't know if it was because it was a sunday night, but Cork seemed like a really dodgy town and had a bad vibe about it - we were happy to leave the next day!