I had only been in Ireland for a few days before I met up with the other girls from UF. We were hanging out daily, exploring Dublin and trying different pubs and restaurants around the city. One day, after grabbing coffee and tea at the on campus cafe, we decided to make plans for the upcoming weekend. Classes had yet to start and we thought it might be best to get the first weekend adventure done before the stress of classes set in. We came to the consensus that we wanted to visit Cork, the second largest city in Ireland. Right there and then, we booked a hostel and 6 bus tickets to adventure across the country.
The weekend arrived and it was time to travel. We boarded the bus at 8am on Saturday and arrived in Cork just before 11am. We walked around the city center and found a market to eat food. After refueling and a bit of wandering, we hopped on another bus and travelled to Blarney for the castle. First tip, buy your ticket in advance and purchase a student ticket to save some money!
When we arrived, there weren’t many other people that were on the grounds, making it easy to take lots of pictures and take our time throughout. Another tip, try to go on off seasons to avoid large crowds. We explored all the rooms of the old castle and were able to read each of the descriptions of the rooms. The stairs between each level of the castle were narrow. Tip number three, make sure to have your hands free to stabilize yourself in the small, spiral staircase. Eventually, we made it to the top, home to the infamous Blarney Stone. There was barely a line, just two people in front of us. I watched as everyone went before me, I was the last to go.
To kiss the Blarney Stone, you have to sit down on the castle’s edge with your back to the stone, lean back while holding two bars to keep you steady and then kiss! There were two attendants, one to hold you steady as you lean over an opening at the top of the castle, another operating a camera that captures the memory. Don’t worry, after each person kisses the stone, one of the attendants uses cleaner to sanitize the stone. There are a few things about kissing that stone were unexpected. First, it’s much lower than you might think. Getting into position to get down to it is a little scary but its not as difficult as it looks when you see others do it. Also, the stone is oddly smooth. I guess after millions of lips have touched it, it begins to erode. Perhaps the most unexpected part of kissing the stone was the sound. With your head in an odd position, the rest of the world is somewhat blocked out in terms of sound. When smooching the stone, it feels like the sound of the kiss can be heard by everyone and it’s a little awkward.
After kissing the stone, we made our way out of the castle and back to the cafe on the grounds to reflect and refresh. If you’re in the mood for something warm, the Irish coffee made with whiskey is delicious and I found it to be the best out of the beverages on the menu that we had tried. We then ventured off to explore the grounds. First, we made our way to the Blarney Estate, a beautiful mansion that is private property. Then we headed down to the river to take a few photos. Finally we went to the jungle. From my perspective, this was the highlight of our visit.
In the Jungle, there were a few waterfalls that initially intrigued us. When wandering around there, we found a plaque talking about the configuration of two of the stones in front of us. They created a small tunnel that was said to be a portal to a different dimension. We each went through it which was fun. Then we found my favorite part, the wishing stairs. The plaque set up had told us that if we walked up and down these stairs with eyes closed, thinking only of our wish, our wish would come true. We then each took turns doing these stairs, walking blindly up and then back down backwards these stairs. So, my biggest tip is to adventure over to this part of the property and do the wishing steps!
The park was then going to close and so we headed out and back to the bus stop to head back to Cork. We spent the rest of the weekend exploring University College Cork and the neighborhoods of Cork. Overall, visiting Blarney Castle and the entirety of Cork was well worth the trip! It was a great opportunity to get our feet wet in terms of travel and staying in a hostel.
The Global Gator 