Blarney Castle, Cork, Ireland
We woke up later than usual, it’s difficult to sleep in conditions other than your norm. We also stayed out pretty late last night.
We did make it to breakfast on time. Gram had an omelette and as those of you with facebook saw, I had the house specialty starter, porridge, and chose Baileys Irish Cream as my topping! I also had vegetarian rissoles but could only eat one. They are known for their breakfast here, where we are staying, but it is also more similar to a hotel and not as homey or friendly as the last place, in my opinion.
Next I got a little frustrated because nobody could seem to tell me where to get the 215 bus at, between our host, a hotel, and a centra station. Eventually we found it but now I was hot and sweaty and we had of course just missed the bus so we had to wait another 25 minutes on a narrow sidewalk at the top of a hill. Then when the bus did come I think the driver was a little irritated because he let the bus down and I just stood there waiting for the ramp.. Well in Dublin the drivers have buttons that unfold the ramp but apparently here it’s a manual deal and I guess each of us assumed the other knew what was going on. Anyway he finally got out and unfolded it so I could wheel gram on and then he didn’t charge us for our ride which was very nice and changed my mood entirely.
We got to Blarney and walked to the castle and waited in line to get into the grounds. We learned that wheelchairs and their drivers get in free, so that was amazing and unexpected! It’s consistently about an hour “queue” to kiss the Blarney Stone and up 120 steps! Gram and I walked around for a while on the grounds, they have a lot for you to see. Next I parked her under the stone with my camera, wait’ll you see the pictures she got - that is sarcasm. ;) either way she read her book while I waited in line. It’s actually nice there’s a line because it makes the steps seem like nothing. They were a little sketchy but mostly fun and it’s also nice going up slow because you have time to take pictures. You come up the opposite side and walk around the top of the castle until you get to the stone. The top two pictures are of me on two different sides of the top of the castle, before and after kissing the stone. The girl in the group behind me took two pictures of me kissing the stone, wait’ll you see the pictures she got - sound familiar? Sarcasm again. Glad I bought the official photos!!! One of which is the third or middle photo.
After I kissed the stone, which is built into the battlements of the castle (thus explaining its position), we went through the poison garden so gram could see the plants from Harry potter, mandrake and wolfsbane. Then we went around to the front of the castle, took some more photos, got her an ice cream, spent forever in the gift shop, and waited 45 minutes for a bus because the first one never came!
By the time we got back to Cork it was just too late to go to Cobh, you have to take a train and everything so it just would’ve been too much.
We followed a girl off the bus back in Cork and she took us to Clancy’s, where gram asked the waitress (4th photo) what this word “Trish” means everywhere on the menu.. In case you cannot see either it is IRISH.. The font is just a little tricky. Gram had some wine & fish & chips and I had some cider and some pasta… And then a coffee with baileys.
It was a long day outside walking and she’s sleeping now so I think I should too, getting on the bus tomorrow after breakfast, headed for GALWAY!