Why is the cathedral named after a rock? Also do Irish people just not need to pee?

Today we sadly said goodbye to our beautiful Thomastown (Kilkenny) Airbnb and started the journey to Cork. I was actually pretty disappointed to leave that Airbnb, it’s definitely my favourite Airbnb we’ve had so far on the trip, and the first time I really felt at home. I also really enjoyed Thomastown and Kilkenny, I could easily see myself living in either town, especially Kilkenny, even if it’s for a little bit. After reflecting on the drive today, I just felt so chill and relaxed and comfortable in Kilkenny, I 100% want to come back and visit for a longer period of time, maybe do an extended house-sit or something. There’s just something about that town just clicked for me, and I think I realised that when I was genuinely sad to leave! Usually when we go to a new place I’m just looking forward to exploring something else, but this was the first time I just wanted to stay. Maybe Kilkenny and Ambleside, actually. I loved Ambleside too.

Anywhosies I’m getting on a tangent… long story short Kilkenny is top of my list to re-visit.

Now coming back to today, we got going around 9am, as we were aiming to arrive at our first stop of the day, Waterford, by 10am to have time to park and walk to our King of the Vikings experience. Turns out Waterford is the oldest city in Ireland, and as such, it has a rich viking history. Though we did that viking tour in Dublin, this specific experience came highly recommended, and was a bit more unique than just a little walking tour, so we thought we’d give it a go. King of the Vikings is a VR experience which takes you through 300 years of viking history in an immersive half an hour. I have done a couple things with VR before, but this was the first time I didn’t have control over what I was doing, you just sit back and take everything in. If anything I got so distracted by how cool everything looked it took a while for me to actually lock in and listen to the information. Though it was really engaging and interesting, and the visual effects were done really well, I was a little disappointed it wasn’t more graphic. They’re talking about pillages and wars and usurpers, yet visually what you’re seeing is very G-rated. Which I didn’t think was necessary, considering children under 8 weren’t allowed to do it anyway. So it was a bit lacking on the action front, but I do believe that I retained so much more about the viking history this way rather than just a standard tour.

Though Waterford as a town is actually quite big, the main town centre and more touristy ‘old town’ is still quite compact, so we saw most important things in an hour or so. The only other major sight we definitely wanted to visit was the big store for Waterford Crystal. Obviously, Waterford Crystal was started in Waterford, so we had to say hi to their displays. And they were absolutely stunning, we may or may not have made a little purchase as well. Not anything fancy or crazy, just a little souvenir from the trip.

From here our next stop was around an hour away, and a bit more rural so we weren’t sure if there would be public toilets. Hence began the next 40 minutes of hell called Lauren needs to pee and Dad is trying to have a business call in the car and Ireland doesn’t believe in public toilets. Pubs? Closed on Monday. Petrol stations? Sell drip coffee only. Parks? Waterslide only. We did detours through 3 different towns trying to find me a place to pee, and honestly whilst I was keeping chill (cause what does getting stressed help with) Dad did not stay in the same state. I started to feel bad for needing to pee! Eventually we found a little café (I did need to buy a coffee to get let into the bathroom, which I certainly did not need after having a coffee already this morning, but you do what you gotta do).

Neither of us were too hungry, so we just ate some of the snacks we’d bought earlier from Tesco on the road and continued to the Rock of Cashel. Which is weirdly named, considering it’s a whole ass cathedral. I think calling it a rock is a bit rude. Maybe because it’s built on a rock? Or it’s made from rock? Not sure. Anyway it was very impressive! Definitely the biggest church space/cathedral situation we’ve visited so far, and the weather was absolutely stunning so that helped a lot I think. How the roof was crumbling and parts becoming overgrown with ivy added to the whole atmosphere, and I was clearly obsessed with the ceiling part in the middle of the Rock, that’s where most of my photos are.

Continuing driving on we didn’t really stop anywhere else, just took a pretty decently sized detour to see some of the coast. Which honestly wasn’t living up to the hype that was set for us. It’s called the Copper Coast, and it supposed to be a very pretty stretch of coastline. Now to be fair we didn’t see much of it, just a little section, but it didn’t make me want to see much more. It was fine, but not worth the 40 minute detour it took to see it. It did mean that we didn’t have to stop anywhere along it, so from the Rock of Cashel it was a 2 hour drive pretty direct into Cork.

We arrived at our accommodation and everything went smoothly to get there despite some decent amounts of traffic. Honestly from the small bits and pieces we’ve seen in Cork this evening, it is a bit of a letdown when we compare how incredible Kilkenny was. Obviously we’re still going to make the most of the day tomorrow and do some exploring, but if it’s more chill and we can get some life admin done too, then that’s a win-win.

Will keep you updated on the events of tomorrow. Love you lots!

Currently MIA,

Lauren x