Blarney Castle
After picking up our car, Big Bertha, back at the hotel, we head to the city of Cork in the County of Cork. Stopping at a small restaurant called Nutmeg, we have a delicious vegetarian lunch at this tiny place, which has a bright, clean ultra-modern vibe and serves an organic and vegetarian menu. By this point in our trip, Christin has decided that Ireland is a very vegetarian-friendly country! I had read somewhere that 40% of the population of Ireland is under 25-years-of-age, so with that kind of demographic, I was sure the Irish people are very “enlightened” on many levels.
She decides that I’m nuts, once again, but chews on that little nugget of information for awhile; after all, one of her meals consisted of eating candy at a gas station because she wasn’t sure she would get another meal! So, Nutmeg Restaurant was a special treat for her and she’s thrilled that we have stumbled upon it. Satiated and happy, we barrel through Cork, the 2nd largest city in the Republic of Ireland with a population of around 200,000 people (remember this fact; you’ll be stunned by another population fact coming up in this story), to find our next destination – Blarney Castle.
Blarney Castle, probably the most famous castle in Ireland, is a wondrous fortress in excellent condition despite Ireland’s long history of multiple conflicts. The famous Blarney Stone is said to have the power to instill the power (yes, it has double “powers”!) of conferring eloquence on all who kiss it. The word “blarney” was introduced into the English language by Queen Elizabeth I and is described as “pleasant talk, intended to deceive without offending.”
“Baloney is flattery laid on with a trowel. Blarney is flattery laid on with the lips;
that is why you have to kiss a stone to get it.” – Monsignor Fulton Sheen
The stone is set in the wall below the battlements (at the top of the castle), and to kiss it, one has to lay down and lean backwards grasping an iron railing. Well, I’m here to tell you that even 5 years ago, I was too old to “lay down and lean backwards grasping an iron railing”!!! And, Christin didn’t want to kiss a stone that had been kissed by millions of people. So, we stood and watched for a while as people lined up to lay down and lean backwards – a hilarious ritual that in and of itself is “blarney” as far as I’m concerned. But, people loved it, were willing to wait in line to reach it and then contort their bodies in all manner of speaking to do it! Here’s a link to the Blarney Castle website, with several videos of people kissing the stone.
We loved Blarney Castle, as we did all of the castles we visited and this was our final castle on our brief tour. After a few hours, we head back to Killarney Park Hotel for another evening as their guests.
May your day be touched by a bit of Irish luck,
Brightened by a song in your heart,
And warmed by the smiles of the people you love.
Read more on Page 12…
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