This Is All Blarney

“The difference between ‘blarney’ and ‘baloney’ is this: Baloney is when you tell a 50-year old woman that she looks 18. Blarney is when you ask a woman how old she is, because you want to know at what age women are most beautiful.” - Unknown

On Thursday afternoon, Lindsay, our friend Danielle, and I made the nearly four hour trip down to County Cork to cross something off of all our bucket lists: kissing the blarney stone. Because it's so far from Galway, we made an overnight trip out of the adventure, staying in Cork City at what was allegedly voted the #7 hostel in the world. I don't know about the validity of that statement, but it was the nicest hostel I have stayed in so far. The bathroom was immaculate, there was a nice common area, and it was quiet despite being located above a pub, so Bru Bar and Hostel gets a good rating from this girl. Lindsay and I arrived in Cork around 4, checked into our hostel, and went in search of the tourist office. The city was a lot bigger than I expected it to be, but we found the tourism office pretty easily and then did a little tourist shopping before meeting up with Danielle. Once we met up, we went to dinner just down the block from our hostel at a traditional Irish restaurant. I had my first experience with shepard's pie and it was delicious! I was skeptical at first, but definitely not disappointed. Lindsay was even braver and had a steak and Guinness pie which she said was also pretty great. After dinner, we went back to our hostel and had a low-key night playing Rummy 500 and heading to bed early to rest up for the next day.

In the morning, we checked out of our hostel and walked to the nearby bus station to make our way to Blarney. We took a local bus because Blarney is only about 20 minutes away from the city. When we arrived, we followed the other groups of tourists towards the castle. It began to spit rain, but we had come prepared with rain gear and determined to make the most of it. We paid the entrance fee and walked through the lovely grounds to the castle. Unfortunately, my camera had some sort of malfunction this week and I needed to send it back home to the manufacturer but Danielle was kind enough to let me borrow some of her pictures from the trip to put on here. Thanks girl!

The watchtower 

The Castle

Along the way, we learned all about blarney...not the place, the word. It is said to have been coined by Queen Elizabeth I when she described the elegant manner in which Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney, spoke to her. Lord McCarthy pledged faulty allegiance to Britain, faulty because he spoke so eloquently that the Queen thought he was saying something that he really wasn't. She eventually caught on, though, and accused his words of being "all blarney." So that is why it is said that if one kisses the Blarney Stone, they will be granted the "gift of gab" for seven years afterward. Now, as we all know, I love to gab and probably don't need the gift of it, but I couldn't resist indulging in this little piece of Irish tradition!

I had thought the stone would be just sitting on the ground and I would walk up to kiss it, but I was sadly mistaken. In order to kiss the stone, you have to work for it. We climbed up through the castle, exploring the remnants of its many rooms along the way. The staircases were narrow and winding, the doorways were my height or shorter - I really wondered how the majority of people made it to the top. But us agile ladies eventually made it to the open top of the castle. 

Climbing up to the top

Little doorways

Once there, we walked around the perimeter until we reached the stone. I was even more surprised when there was an old man sitting there whose job was to hold your legs so you don't fall over while trying to kiss the stone. He was really nice, but made me nervous as he told me to sit down on my bottom, lean backward - over the edge of the castle - hold onto the bars, keep leaning backward, and kiss the stone. I was terrified that I'd be that tourist who fell off the side of the Blarney Castle, but luckily I didn't. I kissed the stone and had my picture taken by the other man whose job it was to make the experience ultra-touristy and take photographs of people while they kissed the stone. Also, I know a lot of people think that the stone is dirty and kissing it will result in the getting some sort of communicable disease. However, don't fret because the safety man not only keeps you from falling, but he has sanitizer spray handy to clean off the stone. Those Irish are so thoughtful.

The top of the castle

That's my nervous face

Kissing the stone!

Danielle and Lindsay went without any falling incidents and we briefly chatted with the workers until the next tourists came for their turn. We then began our descent down the stairs, stopping in other rooms and remnants along the way. When we made it to the bottom, we walked through some more of the grounds before catching the bus back to the city and catching our other bus back to Galway. It was a quick, but successful trip, as I got to cross something off my goals list as well as do something that most people will only ever read about. And all with a best friend! Not a bad weekend, not at all.

Love and the gift of gab,

Haley