Hello! My life has been positively crazy for the last few days as I desperately fought to have the internet repaired in my house. It was finally finished today, nearly a week since I reported the problem. But I guess that is life. I should be glad that it was fixed that quickly, I guess.
Well, this weekend, I travelled about two hours to the illustrious land of Blarney Castle in County Cork, Ireland. Honestly, though the drive was long and the person next to me would not stop talking (even to let me contribute something), I had a great time exploring my second castle since I've been here. I met a couple of really cool people, and I reunited with a couple of people that I met while drunk in a dark bar. They were drunk, not me. I'm too classy. XD For 15 euro, we got the bus to and from the castle, entrance into the grounds, and a trip into Cork for a little shopping (which I really didn't get to do). Everything was worth it, however, when I walked into the grounds and caught my first glimpse of the castle. Absolutely gorgeous.
I wandered around the grounds for a while, until I found the dungeons. There really wasn't a whole lot to see if you weren't willing to crawl on your hands and knees into the actual cell, but it gave you the general idea of how miserable it would have been to be a prisoner. Not fun, and really damp. I ventured back out of the dungeons and finally found the entrance to the castle itself. Of course, once you are inside, the stairways up to the battlements are narrow and spiral, so its kinda scary when you are trying to go up when someone else is coming down. And steep as all get out. When I got to the battlements (where the Blarney Stone is located) by thighs were burning.
But along the way, there were various little nooks and crannies where you could pop in and explore the castle the way that the original inhabitants would walk through it. The rooms were veerrrryyyy small, with narrow hallways and shallow ceilings. They were obviously short and sylph-like in the 14th century (probably from walking up and down those stairs all the time). The decorations on the walls did not survive the centuries because of the open designs of the windows, but you can still almost imagine how the room would look when the lady of the house or a visiting noble would lay their heads at bedtimes.
At the top of the spiral staircase was an open and entirely beautiful view of the grounds of the castle. Luckily, it was a unusually warm and sunny day as there was no covering. You could either look out over the grounds or down into the great hall, which was where the family would go to eat and spend time together in what would be the warmest and most comfortable room in the castle. I did take a picture of the view into the great hall, but I'll put that up a little later. Here is the view out of the battlement on the grounds. I still can't get over how GREEN everything is here. In the middle of February, everything at home would be brown or white.
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| The Blarney Stone is the long rectangular stone at the bottom |
Once I took my pictures of the grounds, I got in line to kiss the infamous Blarney Stone. In order to get access to the stone, you have to lay on your back (luckily on a plastic mat as the stones were still wet), grab two metal bars that were bolted into the wall, then slide your body backwards until you're relying entirely on your arm strength and the Irish guy who was spotting you to keep from breaking your neck. If you can get over your vertigo for a second, you can easily then kiss the stone and the guide will (hopefully) help you get back up. It's a vaguely terrifying experience, but it would have been ridiculous not to do it. It's something I can brag about for years to come. XD
Once I was done kissing the stone and the blood had rushed back from my head, I worked my way away from the opening in the floor and peeped down over a railing to the great hall. Here is the infamous picture I was telling you about. It's a long way down! All of the holes on the upper level were called murder holes. This was because cauldrons with boiling oil were placed in the holes. Should the castle be invaded, the occupants would tip these cauldrons onto the unsuspecting heads of the invaders for a likely rather uncomfortable bath. There were the remains of what would have been a really elaborate fresco on the wall under where I was standing.
Once I was done exploring the castle, I met up with some of the American international students that were staying in the same village as me and we explored the grounds. We wandered around a fern garden for a while, all of us talking about how beautiful and green everything is here. Matt, who is from Alabama, and Meg (Philly area) happened to find a really interesting nature loa in the garden, which was carved out of the trunk of the same species of tree that grew in the area. It was just one example of how the most unexpected things can appear when you aren't really looking for them. We didn't find any leprechauns, though!
After the gardens, we wandered around the grounds until we happened upon a cave located underneath the castle. It is said that this cave was where the owners of the castle fled under threat of an English siege, carrying with them a gold plate that the English lord thought to claim for himself as a prize. However, once the siege was declared useless (as the people were all gone), the lord left and the people came back. It is said that the golden plate, however, has still never been recovered. We didn't happen upon the plate, but we did get a few goose eggs from the low ceilings, and some mud on our jeans from exploring. Their roommate, Johlt, also found another pathway through the caves that Meg and I were too concerned with our clothing to explore.
After Blarney Castle, we headed into Cork for some shopping for a couple of hours, then took all of our thoroughly exhausted bodies back home, where we all crashed. Sunday, as it turned out, was a completely lazy day before my thoroughly exhausting Monday. As always, more pictures of my adventures both in Blarney and in the Cork City Centre are posted on Facebook. Any questions or comments can be added below.
Best,
Brooke
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