When we toured Ireland in 2017, our favorite city was Cork. One of the reasons we liked it so much is that it’s not really much of a tourist town. It’s scenic and there’s lots to do, and there are a few shops where you can buy souvenirs, but doesn’t have that Tourist Trap feel of summer in downtown Galway or parts of Dublin.
Outside of town, though, there’s Blarney Castle, site of the famed Blarney Stone, one of the biggest tourist destinations in Ireland. Fortunately for us, (1) it’s a short ride on public transit, so less than €2 each way, and (2) it’s way off-season, so it wasn’t crowded at all.
The real surprise of the trip was how large and lovely the gardens are. We didn’t even walk all the paths, as there are some that extend outward through the fields and forests and along the river, and around a lake that we didn’t even see. Even so, we spent more time walking through the gardens than we did in the castle itself.
There are also a number of impressive trees throughout the arboreteums. I thought they some looked familiar, and indeed, they were not native, but were cedars from Northern California.
In addition to the castle, there is a much newer (1874) building on the property, a mansion that was currently closed for renovations. That is one downside to touring in the off-season…sometimes things are simply closed.
There are a cluster of gardens on the other side of the castle with whimsical names — Wishing Steps, Witches Kitchen, Druids Circle. They all sort of blend together though, in fact, we got a bit lost trying to figure out what was where. Is that the Sacrificial Altar? Or just a tree stump? Is that big tree the Irish Tree of the Year, or some other big tree?
There was also a “Pinetum”, essentially an arboretum focusing on pine trees, that struck me more like a rock garden. Also, another waterfall, and a pond.
Then there was the Fairy Glade. I wish our grandkids had been with us, because I’m sure they would have had better luck spotting the fairies than we did!
So after several hours touring the gardens, we finally went up to the castle.
There were a few other people around, but really, we had the place almost to ourselves. The rooms are cold and mostly dark, and except for the main hall, small, with claustrophobia-inducing doorways and stairwells. You could really get a sense of how bleak life must have felt even for those who could afford the fancy real estate of the time. I don’t think you would really be able to get a good sense of the space crammed in hundreds of people, cranky from being on line for over an hour, just wanting to kiss the damn stone and get back to the bus to the cruise ship.
We had the ramparts to ourselves except for two very bored looking workers who are there specifically to help lower people down to kiss the Blarney Stone. I was glad to see they had a bottle of disinfectant spray nearby. There are some odd traditions in this world, but this one strikes me as one of the dumbest. Even if there weren’t a pandemic going on, no way am I going to kiss some stupid rock.
After this we poked around in some shops, but most of the restaurants were closed, so we caught the bus back into town.
Cork Spring 