Search

Kinsale, Cork and Blarney

Cat Holladay
Oct 13, 2017
3 min read

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our Disclosure here.

Our introduction to Ireland was wonderful. Just enough castle to entice, but not enough to exhaust. After staying overnight in Macroom, a small farming town outside of Cork, we were anxious and ready to explore the country we'd had on our bucket list for so long.

We started our first full day in Kinsale. After picking up fixings for a picnic lunch, we headed to the local park to eat and play. G made quick friends with the kids on the jungle gym and was so excited to be able to speak English with them that he gave away his cookie to one little girl.

We wandered the tiny, winding streets of town, then jumped in the car to explore Cork, a place about which we'd read great things. We wanted to see the infamous market in town, so after parking in a nearby parking garage, we walked a few blocks to find it. Parking in town is not easy and costs a pretty penny in the garages. However, street parking is almost non-existent so plan to pay. Also, the garage machines ONLY took cash when we visited, which we were unprepared for. Luckily, we scrounged up enough after making a trip to the car to settle the bill and get the car out.

I'm not sure what we were expecting, but the market wasn't as spectacular as we anticipated. Perhaps this is because we lived next door to a fabulous market in Finland that had everything you could imagine and we have been spoiled. It's not that it wasn't great, it was. It just didn't floor us the way we thought it would. We only spent time at the fish stalls, they had some CRAZY looking fish on ice, before deciding to head to Blarney.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much at Blarney Castle. The cost to enter was pretty high, and I was anticipating kissing the stone and leaving. However, here, we were surprised. There is much more to see than we thought.

The castle itself had underground tunnels to explore in addition to climbing the infamous tower to the stone. The climb was harrowing at times with a four-year-old. The winding staircase with a line in front and back of you made for some tense moments. They did keep the line moving steadily and that made things easier. We got to the top only to realize that G was too small to perform the action of kissing the Blarney Stone. Adam and I performed the rite of passage, and hopefully the luck stays with us! I must say, it was a little scary to lay backward over an open area a hundred feet below you. Castle workers hold you fairly tight, and there are a few bars in the unlikely event you slip through their grip, but heights are not my thing and I was uncomfortable. Like Disney, they take your photo and you can see it after climbing down. No, we didn't buy ours.

Instead of making a big deal out of the fact that G couldn't kiss the stone, we moved a little beyond and selected another stone on the wall of the tower parapet. We told G he was special because he got to kiss this stone. He was thrilled and gave that stone all he had. Maybe this is where he picked up a bug that lasted the rest of our time in Ireland and into Iceland? We'll share more on that later...

After coming down from the tower of the castle, we opened the map provided at the ticket counter and were thrilled to discover SO. MUCH. MORE to see on the grounds. To start, there is a Poison Garden! Within this garden they grow every type of poisonous plant you can imagine, and some you've never heard of. There's mandrake (Harry Potter fans), wolfsbane, belladonna, marijuana, wormwood, etc. Most of the plants have signs explaining what they were used for hundreds of years ago - cause abortions, poison an enemy, etc. It was really interesting, although it was difficult to keep G from touching all the plants he saw.

We continued on the trails and found the Blarney House, a beautiful castle-like home that you can also tour. Unfortunately, it was the end of the day and it had already closed, but that just meant we had the place to ourselves! It was neat to walk around alone. The gardens were also extensive. There were quite a few hidden areas that were fun to explore.

All in all, we would definitely recommend a stop at Blarney Castle - and if you have time, a quick walk through in Cork and Kinsale.