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| Blarney Castle! |
So
after constant debate back and forth before I left Virginia on whether or not I
should kiss the Blarney Stone I finally decided to do it. “Why wouldn’t you
kiss the Blarney Stone?” you ask. Well, I have heard from multiple sources that
the locals do some pretty bad things to the stone. I will not mention what I
have heard, but it was enough to make me doubt my belief in its luck. But after
going through the castle and climbing up to the top, and watching person after
person kiss the stone, I thought to myself, if these people are ok, and the
hundreds of thousands of other people who have kissed it are ok, then I’ll be
ok. The castle was great! Surprisingly it was the first one we went to, but I
feel like that’s fitting while visiting Ireland. It has to be the most
recognizable castle name in all of Ireland right?
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| The interior of the castle. Three different levels. |
After
taking a short bus ride from Cork to Blarney, we approached the castle not
really knowing what to expect. It was not the huge castles you see in medieval
movies, and in no way compares Hogwarts Castle, but it fit right into the
surrounding fields of lush, bright green grass and sheep grazing throughout.
The castle had many levels but many of the floors were missing so you could see
from the bottom floor all the way up to the top, which made it seem pretty
expansive. Climbing to the top of the castle, where the famous (or infamous) stone
is located was a bit more of a challenge then I expected. We had to go up a
very narrow spiral staircase, luckily I did not eat breakfast that morning so I
was able to fit! Once we reached the top the view was amazing! You could see
hills all around in the distance and even a few little towns, as well as a
large gothic era mansion not far from the castle.
So
I kissed the stone. In order to kiss the stone you have to sit down towards the
edge of the wall and lean backwards as a burly bald Irish man holds you so you
don’t fall. It wasn’t bad for me but some people had difficulty because we were
pretty high up and you had to lean your head backwards to look down at the
ground. Overall, the Blarney Stone has still yet to prove what it can do for
me, but it still has plenty of time to go.
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| THE Gourmet Sausage. |
Once
we returned for our Blarney Castle adventure one of the other guys on the trip,
Curtis, and I went to the open market in the center of downtown Cork. When we
entered my nose was immediately filled with such a wide array of smells. The
stench of freshly caught fish mixed with the sweet aroma of cookies being
pulled out of an oven. We continued to walk through and I caught whiffs of the
salty olives sitting in a plethora of large baskets right across from the smell
that grabbed my attention the most, the sizzling scent of sausages grilling
next to sweet peppers and onions. Curtis and I looked at each other and knew
that we had found lunch, or our late afternoon snack. The sausage was
absolutely mouth watering. We left the market before we were tempted to buy
anything else and finished them practically before we crossed the street. I’ve
realized something about the food here. I have been eating a lot of the best
food I’ve ever had in my life here. Everything is so fresh, and even after you
stuff your face and are full to the brim I don’t feel gross like I do after
eating a greasy meal back in the states. I have been taking pictures of some of
my favorite foods here and hopefully one of the many wonderful cooks I know
back home will be able to fix some of it!
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