Blarney Castle

We figured out our route, up Leitrim Street to turn left onto New Mallow Road and made it out of Cork with little incident. We turned left onto the R617 off of New Mallow Road but when we got into the village of Monacnapa there was a small amount of confusion. We came down the hill to a T- junction and there was a large sign pointing up to the right that said Tower. There was no sign pointing to the left. So we went to the right.We wound up in the town of Tower. When we asked a passerby how to get to the castle they sent us back to Monacnapa and told us to go to the left at the T- junction.

When we got to the castle, which was easy then, we did ask at the entry about having no signs to find the castle and they told us it was up to the Manacnapa town council and they did not want any directions signs put up.

Both Maureen and I thought that was the dumbest thing we had ever heard. Here is this tourist attraction that pulls in huge amounts of money to the town and you don’t want to advertise how to get there?

Very odd.

But maybe people don't actually stop in the small town, but just drive through it. That is probably true and so the tourists don't leave lots of money in the village. only the exhaust fumes from cars and tour buses. It's a puzzle.

Anyway. We got to the grounds for the castle around 9am when it first opened and so there were hardly any people there yet.

The walk to the castle brings one through woods and across streams that at one time where part of the moat system around the castle. A lovely trail goes almost all the way around the castle so that you get a lot of different angles to look at.

There were also lots of information plaques strategically located to the best advantage.

I kind of got ahead of Maureen as I wanted to kiss the blarney stone and she did not.

I figured that if I got up there quickly before too many others there would be fewer chances of germs.

I did not know at the time that the Blarney Stone had been voted the most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world.

I mean really, how could that be. If you were early and it had just rained all night then it should be clean, right? Silly Eh?

To that end I climbed the very steep stairs with only the hanging down rope hand rail in the center of the staircase and seemed to be only big enough for my very slim and petite ten year old granddaughter.

I climbed the steeper stairs with the rope along the wall hand rail that made me think that the people who built this place must have been very slim with very long legs and short bodies. Then came the round stairs with the metal hand rail to the next level of the castle and finally the squared off type of stairs to the top of the castle.

I walked around the perimeter of the top of the castle looking into the center as it has no roof or floors and waited for my turn. There were only a few people in line so my turn came quickly. The gentleman asked me if I wanted my picture taken kissing the stone and I said yes.

Then he asked me to sit with my back to the wall and lean back down into the opening. One gentleman hangs on to you and guides you to the stone and a second takes your picture. There are two handrails, one on each side of the opening to hang on to and there was a grate so that you could not actually fall all the way to the ground if they lost their grip on you. When I leaned back and down into the opening the gentleman told me to get lower down and pushed me down lower into the hole.

Now I should point out that he was holding onto me as well when he was pushing me down. I was trying to get a grip on the rails and slide myself down but he was quite strong and everything seemed to be moving so quickly that I felt as if I would fall into the grate. He said look for the dark stone at the bottom of the wall and when I saw it I kissed it quick. Then he pulled me up so quick it was over in less than a minute.

I got up and walked around the other half of the top of the castle and waited for Maureen thinking that if I were probably six inches taller it would have been a very different experience. While I was waiting the sun did peek out from behind the clouds and it was beautiful.

It didn't take long and she was there. Got a picture of her kissing the castle.

She said 'And very proud of it. Going to tell dad, he is a better man than me'

as ,when he was in Ireland, he kissed the stone.

Then we explored.

There was this crow that Maureen wanted me to try and get a picture of.

It seemed to like Maureen and was not really afraid of people at all. I think tourists must have fed him or something.

There were little rooms and niches, windows with thick walls and great views. big rooms with carved decorations on the walls. like a maze in some places but all very fun and very interesting.

Views through peepholes in the walls and old fireplaces. If the floors of each level had been there it would have been cool but it would have taken a lot longer to tour.

Blarney castle or the site has a long history.

A wooden structure was built on the site in the 1200 AD but was replaced with a stone fortification in 1210 AD. The current Castle is actually a medieval stronghold built by the McCarthy clan in 1466.

They cut stone from the ground around where the castle is sitting on to increase the height by lowering the ground around the castle while at the same time using the cut stone to build the castle higher.

The Blarney stone or the Stone of Eloquence was, some say, the part of the 'Lia Fail' a magical stone that Irish kings sat upon.

There are actually several legends about where it came from but I like that one the best. It is a block of bluestone or Dolerite which appears blue when it gets wet. Some say it was taken out of Ireland and into Scotland by the early irish when they settled in what is now Scotland.

It was given to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 for his efforts in the Battle of Bannockburn. The stone was put into a tower when the castle was built in 1446.

All in all it was a most fascinating morning. Next the grounds around Blarney.