Cork & Blarney Castle

To start off reading week, we spent the weekend in Cork. We left early Saturday morning and after a nice nap on the four hour bus ride we arrived in Cork. We spent the first day just wandering around. We stopped to have lunch and watched a band performing for about two hours. Then we went to a pub and watched the Ireland v. Wales rugby match for a nice break. We won :) Cork is well-known for being a great place to go out, so of course we had to go to a club Saturday night. We ended up going to a great club with great music and had so much fun! We woke up fairly early on Sunday and headed to Blarney Castle. Our hostel came with a cool deal where we got our own driver to the castle, but it wasn't that far away anyways. We spent a few hours at the castle, all around the estate, and of course Grandma... I kissed the Blarney Stone!

This is at Shandon, the older part of Cork where our hostel was:



Before going out Saturday night:



Blarney Castle:



At the beginning and bottom of the castle was the dungeon. It was wet, slippery, cold and actually very creepy in here:



This is as far in as I would go, it was a bit claustrophobic and creeped me out:



Inside the castle:



It is believed that those who kiss the Blarney Stone will receive the “gift of the gab” - or the gift of eloquence. I don't have a picture of myself kissing the stone because I was the first one to go and it went really quick. I could have bought one for 10 euro but uh no thanks! You sit down, lay back, grab the bars behind your head, lean backwards and reaaaach to kiss the very bottom stone. There is a man that holds you and bars protecting you from falling underneath. If he wasn't holding you, the bars weren't there and you were really skinny you could easily fall to the bottom. It's crazy hanging upside down from the top of the castle looking down.



This is a view from the bottom, those bars at the top are what you are upside down hanging over to kiss the stone:



Oh and fyi kissing the Blarney Stone is on Discovery's Travel Channel top 99 things to do before you die. It's also listed as one of the most insanitary tourist attractions in the world... haha awesome :)

Then we went on a beautiful walk for about an hour and a half to check out all the scenery. This is the dolmen (Mom - a not so obvious picnic table for giants!!)



These are the Wishing Steps. The legend is that a witch used to steal firewood from the castle. Because she did this, she needed to give something back to people who visited the castle. You are supposed to start at the top of the stairs and go down the with your eyes closed thinking about one wish the entire time. When you get to the bottom you are supposed to go back up the stairs backwards with your eyes closed thinking of your wish. I am proud to say I accomplished this with no troubles at all... after this trip I should be having a lot of luck!!! This is me on my way up backwards (this old man is obviously doing it wrong):



The inside of this is the hidden witch's kitchen (can you see me?!)






It was a great trip and I have decided that if I ever move back to Ireland I will live in Cork :)