August 3 2017
Ireland has seriously undersold itself in the castle and cathedral business. When people talk about going on trips to see castles, they talk about hiking in Scotland or river cruises in Germany, but there are scores of them here in Ireland, with fewer tourists, I’m willing to bet. Maybe traipsing through cattle fields to see castle ruins doesn’t sound exotic but it’s truly magical. And, as today can attest, they’re everywhere!
Stop 1: The Blarney Castle. Just outside of Cork, this is probably one of the most popular castle destinations, on account of the legendary Blarney Stone, and to their credit they have fixed up the grounds around the castle to make this worth an hour or two of exploring. There is a lovely pathway that takes you through a fern garden, rock close, druid case, waterfall and wonderful poison garden that should be renamed the Harry Potter garden of magical plants (they have wolfsbane, mandrake, and lupin). CP should add these to her garden at home! And no trip to the Blarney Castle would be complete without visiting the Blarney Stone. Admittedly, after taking a look at the tourist crowd at the entrance, I swore I would never “kiss” this stone, but the only way to see the top of the castle is to follow the stone-kissing line, and once you are there, it feels a bit foolish to miss out … So kiss it I did. Do I feel more eloquent? Absolute not. Was it worth it? Yes, I think it was.
Uniphotobomber
The Poison Garden
Stop 2: The Rock of Cashel
Halfway between Cork and Kilkenny, the Rock of Cashel is a collection of ancient goodies including a round tower (c 1100), chapel (~1127), and cathedral (~1235). It’s a lovely place to walk around, and in the distance you can see other ancient, unidentified buildings. Queen Elizabeth and Philip visited the site in 2011, which seems to have caused some excitement.
Rock of Cashel
Stop 3: Kilkenny Castle.
Kilkenny is apparently renowned as the most medieval city in Ireland, and after roaming around the city I can believe it. We saw a church that appeared to be partially in ruins but was still running Sunday services. Every few buildings on the main downtown streets appears to be a historical relic. And right in the middle of town there is a huge castle that was built around 800 years ago. The castle courtyard is open on one side and extends to a massive grass field or possibly a park. Beautiful!
Kilkenny Castle
From Kilkenny castle, more ancient buildings in the distance!
Our stop for the night was at the Billy Byrnes Bar and Guesthouse where we rented a room above the bar, in perfectly medieval style. The pub entertainment for the evening was a jazz band featuring Anders Bergcrantz, a jazz trumpet player from Sweden.
I don’t know what it is about old stone buildings but I never get tired of them. Especially when surrounded by greenery. And places to drink 🙂