Today we decided to visit the Blarney Castle. This was supposed to be a stop on our tour, however the way it was presented to us “climbing 180 stairs to kiss the stone” was not very accurate so the group decided to pass on visiting the castle. When I read more – there was a lot more to visiting this castle than just kissing the stone! As Blarney is not far from Cork, it seemed like a great day trip! As you probably can tell, fall is starting to hit Ireland and the colours of the trees etc were pretty spectacular along with the fact that Ireland really likes to celebrate Halloween! At the entrance the big tree along with other areas all had pumpkins and ghosts abound! As I cannot get into the castle very far (basically in the door and that is it) both Andrew and I received free access to the Blarney Castle and grounds. We still had to pay for parking though which was more than fair – a whole 2 Euros! Where the entrance is to the park, you have to walk about .5 km to the Blarney Castle itself and as you will see below, there are a couple of other “features” to look at on the way. However what made this visit most enjoyable was the fact that when we got near the castle area, a bagpiper started playing! So I (we) sat and listened to him for a few minutes as it was such a perfect situation. Later, when Andrew was in the castle, I also listened to him play while sitting waiting for Andrew to return – such a haunting type of music to play in such a historic venue.
When we got up to the castle entrance (which they did have an accessible pathway instead of the huge amount of stairs), Andrew thought he would climb the staircase inside to look upstairs. I do not think he realized just how far he would climb and the conditions of the stairs when he came down! However he did get to see the Blarney Stone (although he did not kiss it as he did not want to be suspended backwards and upside down to do the “kiss”) and took some pictures for me! We then went to have a drink – I needed hot chocolate as I was cold sitting outside the castle and Andrew needed something cold as he was hot from all that stair work – which is so different than normal with him drinking coffee and me some cold beverage! We then had a nice walk around the castle park and back to the car where we found out that our parking, when we went to pay for it, was also free as the parking machine was now broken where we had to pay! So it was a nice free visit to the Blarney Castle and a great outing!
To see my recording of the Piper playing see the end of this page.
Below, are Andrew’s picture of where I left him at the Blarney Castle entrance as he climbed up to see the stone and back down again. He took pictures of the signs of the rooms and places that he saw as they were often just a rock space without any decorations – they were just noting what would have been there.
Now, I am sure you are going to ask – Why do people kiss the Blarney stone upside down? Well, because it’s the only way to reach the stone! The stone is small when compared to the castle’s wall and to reach it you have to extend down about six inches from the rooftop base. To do so, you lie on your back and lean backwards. An iron railing and an assistant is there to help. So, while one holds on tight to the iron railing to avoid falling, you kiss the stone while looking down at the ground from 90 feet up. Simple as that! As legend tells us, if you kiss the Blarney Stone, you will be gifted with eloquence and persuasiveness!
Now, as we left Blarney Castle, the weather seemed to be holding so we decided to visit another village that was the last stop and land that the people on the Titanic saw before the end of their journey. So we drove to Cobh, which is on the southern end of Ireland. It was a very pretty city with lots of colour on its townhomes, however the streets were really narrow (many should be one way only) and hilly which made driving a challenge at times! Remember, Andrew is driving on the left side of the road…
Well, that was a very interesting day exploring around Cork! On the way back into town, as I had seen so much accessible parking the previous day, I had an idea and that was due to a parking issue with the hotel (they advertised a flat rate for 24 hours but it did not have in and out privileges which could make it expensive at an 18 Euro flat rate everytime we parked) to see if there was an accessible parking spot near our hotel – sure enough one block away there was one! Like in other parts of the Republic of Ireland, parking in accessible parking spots, unless marked otherwise, is free for as long as you want to. So after paying 48 Euros for two days and a couple of hours of parking in the hotel parking lot (which was owned by a different company) we parked for the next 2 days in the accessible parking spot for free – a very good deal!
I also had the hotel print out a standardized message from an international accessible travel website which for Ireland was in English, explaining that I have an accessible parking permit from Canada (which was hanging from the rear view mirror like normal) and it is valid around the world. At the same time I had them print a copy for Iceland which was in Icelandic for when we travel there next week.
Now back in our lovely hotel room, Andrew prepared some dinner while I tried to figure out what was going on with my website and why my pictures were not wanting to upload! This has happened previously when we were in Thailand, however this time it seemed to be tied to what hotel we were staying at on some networks they would upload and some they just would error out. I do not need technical issues when on vacation!
Our route for the day –
Happy Birthday Joanne!
Here is the Piper at the Blarney Stone playing –