Day 4: Kilmainham Gaol and Athlone

 We woke up on our last day in Dublin excited to get into our rental car and begin our countryside travels. But first, we were a lucky pair to score tickets to the Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced jail) 28 days prior. It’s extremely difficult to get tickets, they open 28 days in advance and typically sell out immediately at midnight. Lucky for us, I learned of this in our early planning stages and was prepared at 7:00pm EST on May 20! We got in for an 11:15am tour!

We took the public transportation city bus to pick up our rental car first which was just about five minutes from the Kilmainham. Only a small hiccup of not having euro coin for the bus stalled us! A nearby coffee shop with a very friendly barista made change for our notes. About 20 minutes later we were picking up our rental car. It was almost too easy. We were in and out in less than 10 minutes, and found ourselves sitting in a backwards car in the parking lot. Well, backwards to us because the driver sits on the right. Francene and I decided that I’d be the driver, I enjoy driving and get very carsick when not in the driver’s seat so it made the most sense. We pulled out and drove around the corner to the prison and pulled into a parking garage. So, my first experience driving on the opposite side of the car and I’m already in a one way spiral garage- you know the kind! A bit stressful but knocked me right into driving! 

Kilmainham Gaol was a guided tour by Robbie. He was wonderful and funny in just a way that funny could be on a tour of a prison that housed children as young as three years old! Yes, Thomas Roberts was found begging in the streets at just three years old and was brought to jail. Another “famous” prisoner was Joseph Plunkett. He was the leader of the 1916 Easter rising. He was scheduled for execution and his last wish was to be married to Grace Gifford. His wish was granted and he married her with only the priest, and two British soldiers as witnesses in the chapel of the prison. He was able to spend 10 minutes alone with her, and then later on was executed by firing squad. Fun fact: a couple of scenes from Paddington Bear 2 were filmed at Kilmainham Gaol as well as the 1969 version of The Italian Job. 











After the tour, we got into the car and drove just over an hour to our first bed and breakfast, Riverdale House in Athlone. Athlone is a small, quaint village with many hidden treasures. The most popular  perhaps, is Sean‘s Bar, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the oldest bar in Ireland. We checked into our B&B and walked into the village to explore. We found a cafe with the most delicious goat cheese and chicken salad. Then, we went back to our car and drove across the Shannon River to the town center. We found a mall, complete with a TK Maxx and yes you read right- a K instead of J! 

Our bed and breakfast hosts Neil and Avril told us that live music begins each evening at 9:30 at Sean‘s bar. We headed back down to the village around 8:00 for small bites at the Riverview Bistro and then to Sean’s Bar where we enjoyed the atmosphere with both tourists and locals until the sun started to set at 10:30pm! 














Next up: our first Irish breakfast tomorrow morning with Neil and Avril and then we head to Galway!



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