Day Fourteen – Kilronan Castle

Sadly we are winding down the trip. One of the required tourist stops is to spend a night in a castle, so we are heading to Kilronan Castle tonight one the way back to Dublin. It is a lot of driving today , some on expressway through countryside in the middle of the country that looks like Michigan countryside. The coolest of the castles like Asheford cost $600 a night, so we opted for Kilronan, which has only been open as a hotel for a couple of years. Arriving at the castle is impressive. The main part of the castle was built in the 18th century. It has been restored and modern amenities have been added. All

interiors are regal complete with carved oak everywhere. The rooms have modern climate controls, pillow top beds and luxurious bathrooms. There are a few interesting inconsistencies. The gardens are in need of weeding and don’t appear to be thriving too well. Some of the elegant finishing has little workmanship shortcomings. Overall, the facilities are really elegant and a bargain for the price.

 

Dinner at the Castle

We went down to dinner without huge expectations . We booked the room under a great midweek special which included dinner and breakfast in the price. We really expected a token dinner with one or two choices. Instead, we were greeted by a formal but friendly waiter and a free choices off the menu for an appetizer, main course , dessert and coffee. The menu also said we could choose one of the several after dinner cognacs including 32 euro shots of cognac. Shockingly, that turned out to be a typo (wry grin).
I started my dinner with unique appetizer comprised of bacon and lentils and a fried quail egg and a couple other things I can’t remember. This was followed by a small hors d’oevre of brie cheese on a bed of something fresh and crunchy, compliments of the chef. This was followed by a sorbet to cleanse the palette, although I really didn’t think mine was dirty.
I had not had a steak all trip , so I ordered a flavorful Fillet steak (which came with the unavoidable mashed potatoes). Aarons tofu entree was the best he had had all trip. Everyone’s dessert choice was the trio of chocolate: white chocolate mousse, dark chocoate truffle and chocolate ice cream. Oh wait, Aaron ordered the chef’s selection which was Tiramisu and two other wonderful little items (can’t remember)This long and beautiful meal was finished up with very good and very strong coffee. All we had to pay for was the glasses of wine we ordered (Camp Nuevo Tempanilla from Spain) and the tip.