Cooling it in Kilkenny...

Built by the Normans in 1213, Kilkenny Castle had held by the Butler Family for almost 600 years before they abandoned it to the city in 1960 to prevent further deterioration.

Kilkenny is an amazing city in the southern half of Ireland. It has been officially classified as a city for more than 400 years, a town since 1609, and the first known settlement there was as far back as the 500'sAD. With the Norman invasions around 1169, Kilkenny became a Norman town, with its centrepiece being Kilkenny Castle. This history, and the city's ancientness, is evident everywhere in awe-inspiring buildings and relics.

St. Mary's Cathedral, possibly the most beautiful we have seen, ready for a wedding.

The Dominican Black Abbey has a magnificent stained glass window.

Coach Road house decoration typical of colorful approaches to beautify Kilkenny residences.

Kilkenny's religious history is manifestly obvious in magnificent cathedrals such as the Roman Catholic St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Canice's Cathedral (apparently, it's very rare to be a two cathedral town) and the Dominican Black Abbey. Other stunning buildings include the Town Hall, the Tourist Office (an old Almshouse), some very old taverns, but there are many more in the so-called Medieval Mile of downtown streets, lanes and tiny cut-throughs which pass up and down the city hill.

Kilkenny Castle and the John's Bridge seen from the River Nore.

St. Canice's Cathedral dates to 1202 and has been restored twice after catastrophes involving withcraft and Oliver Cromwell. The tower is hundreds of years older.

Accordlingly, Kilkenny is a tourist hotspot, and simply walking around town (with a map in your hand) is so popular that the narrow footpaths are often clogged with pedestrians. The River Nore flows through Kilknenny - its waters are dark but it's twisty and the banks are quite scenic. The city's pedestrian inventory is enhanced by some really nice river walks.

Kilkenny is a hilly city, and steep narrow lanes like Butterslip join the adjacent levels.

We encountered a swimming event in the River Nore with many participants.

That Ireland thrives on tourism has now been evident to us in Dublin and Kilkenny. We remain quite surprised at the sheer numbers of foreign visitors here. All European languages can be heard, and also American accents. We suppose that many Americans come to Ireland to retrace their ancestors, and the USA is pretty close!

It's been easy for us (so far) to get good coffee here. Pub food, touted as traditional Irish is nice but wears thin after a while, and we find ourselves looking for other dining opportunities. The pubs do their best to attract customers by putting on live entertainment - in one place, The Field, it starts as early as 3:30pm, but we found that it was very hard to get in. We always looked for live traditional music when looking for a venue for an afternoon or pre-dinner drink.

Live music is a common way of attracting customers, but the best and rarest are the fiddlers.

Tiny pub The Field has live music from 3pm every day. After not being able to get in, we arrived at 3:30pm this day.

Kytelers Inn (1224) attracts the punters with live Irish music and dancing.

Our base in Kilkenny was on the edge of the Medieval Mile. The Ormonde Hotel was a good choice, with a large and comfortable room, but we found it was missing amenities that we regard as important, such as an in-room safe and refrigerator. It's summer, and we noted the lack of an air conditioner too - worse, we had to keep the excellent windows shut to try to exclude the noise from a wedding in the hotel one night which was still going when the sun came up at 5am.

Detail at the 1582 Hole in the Wall tavern, recently "restored" and open to the public.

A mechanics workshop in St Johns Priory (1200) no doubt helps to pay for expensive restorations. The priory was destroyed by Cromwell.

Leaden skies across the River Nore to the County Council offices.