Blarney Castle (County Cork)

Another area of Ireland I had not seen was the Cork area. We decided to head down that way for a day drive on Sunday. Most people have heard of the Irish "gift of the gab" and you are suppose to able to get it by kissing the "Blarney Stone" located at the top of Blarney Castle. I made my way to the top of the castle (unfortunately Jessie gave up about 3/4 of the way up) climbing a "gazilliion" tiny little winding stairs. The winding continued to become narrower and narrower and the steps became smaller and smaller.

The inside of the castle was actually quite interesting with all its small little rooms everywhere (check out the picture at the bottom).
I passed on actually kissing the Blarney Stone - I gab enough and the idea of kissing something that many gazillion people had already kissed did not actually appeal to me (not to mention the laying on your back suspended with some strange man holding on to you). The left shot is of the "stone" (that smooth part at the bottom). The right shot is of the the man who holds you and the man who takes your picture. I blew a kiss to the stone and there was no picture to be had because "little miss chicken-little" Jessie was safely waiting down on the FIRST FLOOR of the castle.
It really was quite the climb and even though my knee was screaming "stop, oh please stop", I decided that I needed to make the climb to at least SEE the stone. And the castle itself was quite interesting and the surrounding grounds were really beautiful.
The castle would actually be a really nice spot to bring a picnic and spend the day roaming about the grounds and the castle itself. I think Blarney would be a place I would also visit again and do a bit more exploring of the castle (with a knee that is cooperating with all the stairs and climbing around that could be done).

There are still more pictures to come . . .