Travel-log Part 3: Cork & Blarney Castle
Day 4 of our travels brought us to Cork
Where we had a lovely walking tour through the city with a couple from Colorado, a woman from California, and a woman from New Zealand.
The couple from Colorado had a driver with them as part of their vacation package, and he decided to join the tour as, “I’ve heard you’re quite good,” he said to Mary, our tour guide. But then he had to dash off to re-park the car. He showed up a little while later, but we’ll get back to him in a minute.
Mary was a wonderful tour guide and I really enjoyed wandering around Cork and learning all about it. At one point, we had paused and were just chatting amongst ourselves about where we were from and what all we had seen so far on our various vacations, and I mentioned, “Everyone we’ve met in the past two days has made a point to tell us that Cork is the real capital of Ireland.”
Mary laughed and said, “Oh, yes, that’s how I usually start my tours, but this guy threw me off.” (Pointing at the driver)
The driver also laughed and agreed with her.
So I asked, “Why does everyone say that?”
And both Mary and the driver looked at each other sort of blankly and then they both said, “I don’t know.”
Which I thought was just about the most quintessentially stereotypically Irish thing ever.
“Oh yes, big rivalry. Nope, nobody knows what it’s about.”
After the tour, Derek and I decided we were tired of eating overpriced food in restaurants, so we entered the enormous farmer’s market and bought a loaf of bread and some homemade blackberry preserves as well as a few scones and croissants and decided that was going to be what we’d eat for lunch and supper later.
We left Cork and then drove to Blarney Castle, where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
Blarney Castle was an incredible time. We ascended up the very narrow (which got increasingly narrower as we went) winding stone steps all the way to the top of the castle, where we “noped” right past the Blarney Stone.
So… the Blarney Stone.
I mean, the reason you go to Blarney Castle, apparently, is so you can climb the tower and kiss this stone and get the “gift of gab.”
However….
What they don’t tell you on the ground, is exactly where the Blarney Stone is and HOW you have to kiss it.
So you get up to the top of the castle, right? 70-90 feet up. And then you walk along the crenellations until you get to a place where there’s a hole at the bottom of the wall. And then you have to sit down with your back to the wall, lie on your back, and scootch your head through the hole and kiss the stone on the base of this crenellation wall. All while trusting the guy sitting there to keep you from sliding headfirst and backwards off the tower.
No. Thank you.
Just in case you don’t believe me, check out this website with a picture of someone actually kissing the stone!
So… yeah, we climbed the tower and did not kiss the stone. But we both decided that 1) we don’t believe in superstitions and 2) even if it were real, we’re both perfectly happy with our ability to converse.
Ahem.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the beautiful grounds and along the forest trails. We did not get to see everything as there are 60 acres to explore, but we did see the Badger Caves, the Poison Garden, Blarney House, and some of the Rock Close (basically a really cool garden full of rock formations).
It was such a huge highlight and so gorgeous. If you’re ever that way, I definitely recommend a visit!
Tune in next time to hear about our favorite place we stayed during our vacation: