Inducted into the Kilkenny Way

Published Oct 13, 2015

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Kilkenny - Here, one can gauge the mood of the place, chat to the locals and, with luck, embark on adventures outside the many tourist traps that all seem to end with you buying something or other that is green.

One setting, The Hole In the Wall, has barely enough space for 10 people, despite an active theatre upstairs. Another, Paris, Texas, named after the Wim Wenders film, is seemingly designed to suit all manner of tastes, with three separate and very distinct drinking compartments.

All find their place in the niche that is Kilkenny which, with its medieval buildings and designer stores, is Ireland in a microcosm. And a night on the town segued nicely into the next morning’s activities.

Hurling is a crazy sport, a mixture of hockey and Aussie Rules football, and Kilkenny is crazy about it. The city is deemed such because of its two cathedrals, but it’s pretty obvious hurling is the true religion.

And so, stick slung over my shoulder like a caveman spoiling for a fight, I was inducted into The Kilkenny Way on the hallowed field on Nowlan Park. I wasn’t alone. On almost every street, young Kilkenny boys adopted the same pose, showing their reverence for a sport that resolutely will remain amateur to protect its integrity (www. thekilkennyway.com/).

Corny though it may sound, it is indeed a long way to Tipperary.

Here the bustling urgency of Kilkenny’s city centre gives way to stunning vistas of pastoral fields and the kind of green you would immediately associate with Ireland.

Imposing its Georgian-era eloquence on these idyllic surrounds is the Rock of Cashel, a crumbling monument under reconstruction that stands testament to the prestige of religious fervour. It has a few juicy tales to tell, not least due to the conduct of the bishops who lived there. It also houses an example of the Irish making their own luck. This particular tale concerns a wooden seal offered, in lieu of payment, to the professional singers embellishing the bishop’s choir, allowing them to buy produce on credit, an account the presiding bishop was sworn to honour come the year’s end. It proved an opportunity too good to refuse. The townsfolk soon forged their own seals and began shopping on God’s tab. (www.cashel.ie).

There’s a lot more old money at Birr Castle, which along with its vast hectares of land and forests of imported botany, boasts what was once the world’s largest telescope, and Ireland’s largest treehouse, should the kids require a diversion. Birr Castle is still in use by some or other wing of the extended aristocracy, and so it was fitting that my tour guide was the butler, who had a handle on the backstory of everything from crockery to hidden passages. (www.birrcastle.com).

Back in Dublin, at the Spencer Hotel (www.thespencerhotel.com),all the ancient charm seems far removed. But Ireland’s ancient east, witness to so many iconic eras is hiding in plain site.

l Paul Eksteen was a guest of Failte Ireland – www.failteireland.ie

Paul Eksteen, Saturday Star

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