Ireland Trip - Day 5 (July 17): On the road

First stop on this day was Altamont Gardens, near Tullow in County Carlow. The estate is a bit off the beaten path, which in some ways is very nice – it’s extremely quiet there, and there weren’t too many people on the grounds. In fact, there wasn’t even anyone at the tourism office as we entered – but as the gates were open, we figured it was ok to go in! The gardens have a very different feel from Powerscourt, but are just as nice. There is a small river to walk along (though a bit muddy); a grove of dozens of different trees (each marked), and a folly up on a hill behind the house (complete with some very curious cows). We saw swans, ducks, and all manner of little birds (including one curious little fellow, who literally ran across the water lilies, making it seem as if he walked on water). The Asiatic lilies were incredible – they were taller than me (not hard, I have to admit).

Altamont Gardens




After Altamont we drove to Jerpoint Abbey, which is near Thomastown in County Kilkenny. Jerpoint is a beautiful abbey, originally constructed in the mid-1100’s (it constantly amazed me that we saw buildings that had been around for centuries before our own country was even founded). The abbey itself is lovely, and there was a very nice informational area which included the history of the abbey.

Jerpoint Abbey

After Jerpoint we drove in the direction of Cahir, with a stop in Clonmel for lunch. We were looking for a specific restaurant (Angela’s) which had been mentioned in a guidebook, but unfortunately it was closed. We popped into a little gift shop to ask for recommendations; turned out the lady working there was originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She directed us to Galileos, where I had a nice salad and mom a tuna fish sandwich (discovering, among other things, that tuna fish salad in Ireland contains corn!). After lunch, we drove to Cahir and toured Cahir Castle – a 13th century castle that was later inhabited by the Butler family. Again, lots of wonderful historic information – many pictures were taken.

After Cahir we headed south towards Cork. We arrived in the early evening, and checked into Fernroyd House, where Avril and Tony Lyons are hosts. We were given a small but very comfortable room on the ground floor. Tony and Avril are both wonderful people – very friendly and extremely helpful. Tony gave us some suggestions for dinner; armed with a map we took a stroll through the city centre. We did stop at a couple places he had suggested for dinner, but they were either booked or didn’t quite seem to fit the bill. We eventually came upon Scott’s on Catherine Street, where we sat at one of the lounge tables, had some light appetizers and beverages. The food was very good, and the seats quite comfortable – it was a nice place to sit and “people watch”. After dinner we made our way back to Fernroyd House, where we both had a very good night’s sleep.