World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas
Pages:
About | Countries | Tours | Trips | Bucket List – Done | Bucket List – To Do | Airport Lounges | Flight History
Travel Categories:
Flight Reviews | Lounge Reviews | Destinations | Short Breaks | World Trip 1986 | World Trip 1998 | World Trip 1999-2000 | World Trip 2006 | World Trip 2009 | World Trip 2009-10 | World Trip 2010 | World Trip 2011 | World Trip 2012-13 | World Trip 2015 | World Trip 2016 | World Trip 2017 | World Trip 2017-18 | World Trip 2018 | World Trip 2019 | Australia 2022 | World Trip 2023 | World Trip 2024 | World Trip 2024-25 | World Trip 2026-27
Thursday 24 February 2000
Highlights: Watching a Waterford Crystal Vase being made.
On our way to Limerick we stopped off at Waterford and spent the day exploring. Like most ancient cities Waterford at one time was walled but little remains of this wall. Reginald’s Tower still exists but they were unfortunately working on it so we could only view from the outside.
Wednesday 23 February 2000
Highlights: St Canice (Kilkenny) Cathedral, Smithwick Brewery, Kilkenny Castle
Today was spent in one our our small changes to the plan – Kilkenny City. We caught the 9 am bus from Dublin and arrived at Kilkenny 11.30 am.
First up was a visit to St Canice Cathedral, also known as Kilkenny Cathedral, is still a Protestant Cathedral despite being in this strongly Catholic country. The present Cathedral dates from 1251 and contains a stone Throne in one of the walls.
Tuesday 22 February 2000
Highlights: The Easter Rebellion
We walked down O’Connell Street and visited the General Post Office, site of the 1916 uprising against British rule. The Rebels were not supported by the public at the time, and when defeated several of the leaders were excited. However the public executions turned public opinion against the British Government and in 1922 the Republic of Ireland was formed. You can still see bullet holes in the building and memorial paintings are everywhere to the heroes of the Easter uprising.
That night we finally found a pub that has live Irish music. They played one traditional Irish song followed by one American Classic since there were so many tourists. We continued our happy Guinness tradition into the night.
Monday 21 February 2000
Highlights: Trinity College, the old Irish Parliament House, the fantastic Guinness Brewery.
We woke up to a beautiful day so good in fact we decided to chance it without our raincoats. Jon had a small dispute with a fellow guest at the hostel over which bed he should be in.
We walked down to Trinity College which houses over 9,500 students. Until the 1970s Catholics did not attend this Protestant institution, at first they couldn’t and later the Catholic Church forbade it. The university was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I.
The buildings are fantastic, a highlight of the University is the Book of Kells dating from 800 AD. unfortunately it was undergoing repair work today which happens at a lot of historic sites but is necessary to ensure they still exist for future generations.
Sunday 20 February 2000
Highlights: Magnificent Murals covering the ‘Troubles’.
We spent most of the day in Derry / Londonderry. Early in the morning we again walked the wall, but this time looking murals of the Troubles. In Northern Ireland murals have become significant symbols, depicting the region’s past and present political and religious divisions. Belfast and Derry contain arguably the most famous political murals. We managed to get a few good photos of them.
Nathan's Insights 