Kilkenny

Kilkenny is another of those southern Ireland towns that ends up in all the tour books. It's got an old and bustling downtown and it's got a big castle. It would have been a good place to spend a day or two, but our visit was limited to a few hours in the middle of the day, half way between Cashel and the Wicklow Mountains.

Kilkenny Castle has very old Norman roots - which can still be seen in the basement foundations -- but much of what tourists see is more of an 19th century manor house. From the 14th century until the 20th, the castle was the home of the Butler family (the Dukes of Ormonde).

I have to admit, I'm more intrigued by the older, medieval part of the story and the military and religious history, than I am by the more recent interior decorating schemes and the genealogy of rich people distantly related to Anne Boleyn. Maybe if we'd watched more Downton Abbey?