Kildare National Stud Farm, Kilkenny, and Waterford

20 September 2011


When someone signs up for a tour, many things are packed into any given day.  On day four of our tour we traveled from Dublin to Waterford and saw two renowned sites along the way.

Our first stop was the Irish National Stud Farm along with its Japanese Gardens and Museum.


Most horses are born during November, December and January.  

Since we were visiting in September, there were not any colts, expectant mothers, or stallions available for viewing.  There was one mare and baby available.  She is a miniature horse and her colt was about the size of a Labrador Retriever.

 Our guide explained that the little horse is not a pony because genetically she is more horse than pony.  


Our guide stated that during the spring months, these fields are full of mares and colts. 

 The stallions are kept in stalls in the "barn."  These stalls are heated, air conditioned, and very large.  I would guess that they are at least 20' by 20.'

 The gardens are exquisite.  They were built in the 1930's so the plants are mature.

 The pond had several Swans.  This guy had somehow gotten himself in a part of the pond that was separated from the rest by a small dam.  He kept bumping into the wall as if it would move for him.

 It would not be a Japanese garden without an arched bridge. This view made me think of Monet's  "Water Lily" pictures.

An isolated grotto just a few hundred yards from the Stallion's barn.

Kilkenny Castle & Park:

Lunch time brought us to Kilkenny.  As indicated in an earlier blog, visitors had to pay to see the inside of the castle but the grounds could be viewed for free. 

 This castle pre dates Dublin castle by at least 100 years.  According to our guide, the castle and town used to have a wall surrounding it.  All remnants of the wall have disappeared.

 The local Lord lives here with his family and servants.

 This is a view of the street that leads to the castle.  The kiosk on the left is a bus stop.  The buildings on the right are shops and restaurants that are open to a central courtyard.  We ate lunch in one of them.

 After lunch we visited the gardens on the other side of the castle.  The formal entrance to the castle is at the center of the building on the right.  The entrance to the gardens is in the foreground.

 It was necessary to climb stairs to access the gardens.  When standing on the stairs it seemed like the stairs to the veranda continued upwards but in reality they were 50 or 60 feet away.

 Waterford:


This is a pub where we went to have a pint.


The home of the famous Waterford Crystal plant.  We toured the sales room and a mock-up of what happens when preparing crystal.

 Much of the process is now done by computerized robots.  Our tour guide indicated that 70% of the workers no longer work for Waterford.


St Paul's Cathedral was much smaller than other cathedrals we viewed in Dublin.

 This is one of the streets in the city of Waterford.


We were disappointed with Waterford.  We had to pay 18 Euros each extra for the walking tour and felt as if we did not get our money's worth.  The tour lasted about 30 minutes.  


When we got back to our hotel, we found out that the concierge had a self-guided tour map that would have been more informative than the tour we had to pay extra for.