Things to see and do Leinster

Abbey founded in 1225 by Dominican monks, his official name is Abbey of The Most Holy Trinity, but she took the nickname Black Abbey, the black abbey, because of the color of his monks' dress. After the monasteries were dissolved by Henry VIII of England (between 1538 and 1541), Black Abbey was turned into a court. Left abandoned after the passage of Cromwell in 1650, it was restored in the nineteenth century. The interest of the architecture is limited, apart from a superb arched ceiling of shining wood and two beautiful stained glass windows.

Stacked since the twelfth century, the beautiful gray stones of Kilkenny's vast castle draw a wide open U-shaped river. The castle was greatly modified in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Purchased by the powerful Butler family in 1391, he remained in the hands of their descendants until 1935.

We will stop at a long time in the so-called portrait gallery room, a long piece of 45 meters which ends on a triple Gothic window. The wooden ceiling will take your attention. It is painted in a prjorhaelite style (xixe), as shown by young women languishing on arches whose media ends at the head of animals (game and hawks) carved and gilded.

A glass, unusual and architecturally audacious, gives the room rare clarity, a free luminosity. Carrara marble fireplace is engraved with seven bas-reliefs illustrating the history of the Butler family (whose French motto was «As I find»). The Butlers held their fortune from their privileged situation of official «tasters», in charge of savoring the royal cup of wine first (and, as you can imagine, the advantages attached to it…).

The castle also houses the Butler Gallery, one of the most important art galleries outside Dublin. This contemporary art gallery program shows its exhibitions independently. Finally, the huge park around the castle will be the occasion for a pleasant walk or picnic. In summer it is open until 8:30 p. m.

Located on the banks of the Grand Canal, the former distillery of the Irish Whiskey Tullamore Dew is today a museum dedicated to the history of the city and to the birth of this world-renowned spirits. The old warehouse dating from the nineteenth century has been impeccably restored and provides a superb setting to discover the city's history.

The first floor is dedicated to Tullamore's history from its origins. A replica of the Book of Durrow, older than the Book of Kells, reminds us that the county of Offaly was an important monastic center in the early hours of Christianity in Ireland. Another section presents the history of the Grand Canal which, by connecting Tullamore to the Irish and global export-export network, has allowed the economic boom. It was by this means of water that distillery brought barrels of malt from Guinness to Dublin. The story of whiskey is told on the second floor. In 1947, he was joined by a second spirit: the Irish Mist liqueur, created according to an ancient Irish recipe that has been revived. Don't miss to see the small film in the counterpoint of the exhibition, which is found in French version.

The visit will not end without a tasting at the bar on the ground floor. Its wooded tavern atmosphere seduce, as well as its lunch card, which includes a delicious stew stew with, of course, a drop of whiskey in the sauce.

Necropolis of the Boyne Valley, Newgrange is certainly the most famous, most frequented and most impressive. It is one of the most beautiful corridors in the corridor (or «tomb pass») - a grave consisting of a long corridor and a burial chamber, covered with a tumulus - from all over Western Europe. The date (carbon 14) of Newgrange located its construction around 3,200 BC, thus prior to the construction of the pyramids of Egypt or the erection of Stonehenge…

When you arrive on the site, after a short minibus journey from the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Center, a massive butte comes into the hilly landscape of the Boyne, like a wave of green land. You are facing the mythical tomb of Newgrange.

Surrounded by a circle of 97 monoliths, a long 19-meter corridor leads to the three alcoves of the funeral chamber where, according to the current state of the hypotheses, the ashes of four or five people were buried. The entrance of the corridor is championed by a spectacular monolithic stone, beautifully engraved with spiral motifs, whose meaning remains unexplained today. Inside, several stones, either hidden or visible, are engraved with simple motifs: triangles, lodges, spiral. The roof of the room (6 meters high) is beautifully built to the point that there is no water infiltration through gutters drawn in stone.

The mystery of the winter solstice. In the enclosure's enclosure, a cavity lets you pass a radius of light on December 21, which will illuminate, for that day alone the solstice, the corridor from a small opening at the top of the entrance and the room. This discovery was due to Professor M.J.O 'Kelly who began excavations in Newgrange between 1962 and 1975. But how can we explain such astronomical precision so many millennia ago? A mystery among many others in this intriguing valley around the Boyne…

This company takes you to the discovery of Glendalough, a site dating back to the century of Dun Laoghaire, Dalkey and Kilkenny.