Where are John and Kara?: Kilkenny, Ireland

View from our bedroom, Madrid

After a horrendously up and down week with John first finishing school and then us packing our menial possessions into bags and departing our beloved Madrid, we were a mess at the best of times.

Leaving Spain was emotionally crushing and we dearly wish we could wind back the clock and have another opportunity to live each wonderful moment again, to taste our treasured jamon, to watch the trees blossom in Spring, to crunch on the fallen Autumn leaves, to see just one more amazing sunset, to smell a warm tortilla de patata, to siesta, to tapa, to live our amazing Spanish experience again, to stay.

John, Junior and Kara arriving in Dublin, Ireland

But with the closing of this chapter in our life, we have opened another, a slightly more ambiguous one at this stage but nevertheless exciting. So on Saturday morning as we gloomily waited for our delayed flight we began to practice our Irish accents. For the next couple of weeks we will be spending in greener pastures, the greenest in the world and as one of our (way back) ancestral homelands we hope to find our groove in the small country village of Kilkenny, Ireland.

Fish and chips... what?

Landing in medieval Dublin, the largest city within Ireland we stored our bags at the airport and ventured into to the small ancient Viking centre. It was grey, raining and cold. The bus windows fogged and we gave up wiping at the condensation.

Outside we passed grey buildings, flooded green fields and crossed over small stone bridges. The sky quickly darkened and the sun set as we arrived and searched for somewhere to eat a late lunch; fish and chips did the trick. It was only 4pm in the afternoon and already dark.

O'Connel Shopping Street, Dublin

Junior and Kara going in for a Guinness

Kilkenny by night

We had a short walk around admiring the Christmas lights, giggling and imitating the local accents before we stopped for a rich dark foaming Guinness. Our tongues waggled and the Irish accents spilled forth from deep within. Eager to return in the near future and explore further, we paced ourselves and stopped at another pub, the three story Bad Bobs, before our trip to Kilkenny began.

John Street Upper, Kilkenny

Kilkenny is quaint and colourful, settled as early as the 5th century around the Irish Church of Canice.

It was not a town of great importance until the English Norman invasion of 1169. From then it grew quickly during the Middle Ages and flourished. The English spent a great deal of time building the current day Kilkenny Castle, city walls and churches to protect themselves and grow the small village into a thriving merchant town.

The Sunday evening following our arrival we went off exploring the town centre. Just a short walk from home past several colourful pubs.

It was cold and the rain patted down in a light drizzle. We noted how clean the streets were and how the icy wind caught the smell of neighbouring fireplaces. There were only a few street lights dimly lighting the dark paths and catching the rain drops but we persistently marched on eager to explore and purchase an electrical convertor.

Friary Street

Early morning shopping

Along John's Bridge road

High Street, Kilkenny

In 1609 it was granted official city status by King James I of England. Nowadays the small village has as many people as it did in the 1830's having substantially suffered during the great famines.

There weren't many shops open though so we decided to return the following morning. On Monday the rain was still lightly falling from the grey sky but the air was fresh and crisp. We walked along the browny and flooded central river Nore and into town - the old medieval mile.