Today we left Dublin for Kilkenny, an old medieval city in none other than County Kilkenny. It's a city with real character due to it's medieval roots and beautiful castle, cathedral, churches and riverside setting on the River Nore. We could only afford one day here which was unfortunate as the hostel was fantastic and the people there lovely.

We met up with Elan and an Aussie from Melbourne called Angus who were there on a day tour. We went straight to St Canice Cathedral to see the ornate stained glass windows and other old treasures. We also climbed the stand alone tower that dates from 849. The stone spiral staircase is gone from the very narrow tower, replaced by very steep wooden ladders. It was actually quite a thrill to climb it and crawl up a stone shaft to the windy peak and it afforded great views of Kilkenny and it's medieval wonders.

We went with Elan and Angus back to their bus outside the Castle. The castle has gorgeous grounds which a free for the public, including a lovely rose garden. There wasn't much to see inside the 800 year old castle, with many of the rooms used for archives and unfortunately there wasn't much history given. But what we did see was very lavish and the picture gallery was particularly ornate and interesting with portraits of the family and royalty mixed in together. We also had a great discussion with one of the staff in the gallery about the history of the O'Brien family in Ireland!

We've found that it's the small hostels that are great for meeting people and we had a great night cooking up a big meal with two guys from Belgium and Israel who had hiked down all the way from Dublin! Arnaud has offered to be our guide if ever we get to Belgium, especially if we're near Bruges.