Blarney Rubble

The thing that always catches me off guard is that castles, while living spaces, are about more than the castle. there’s always a massive amount of land that goes along with them, so even though you can park on the grounds, there’s always a hike through amazing fields, streams, trees, and forests to get to the actual castle. The blarney castle was no exception, and, in fact, as far as presentation goes, I say it’s got initial reaction in spades.

The walk to the castle was pretty, bridges, streams, trees, fields, the usual. There was even a small rose garden, then a final bridge then, while you’re looking down to make sure the bridge is safe, you come to the end and look… up… and there’s a rock wall. A side of a small hill is peering down at you, and mated to the top of the rock wall is a good 6-story castle sheer wall. There’s tiny windows, small arrow slits all over it, and battlements at the top. The whole thing just screams “I could already be pouring boiling oil on you.” I don’t know if this is how everyone would have attacked the castle, or if it ever was, but if so, this is how you intimidate an oncoming army. What are you gonna fight, England? The rock? The stream? Cause you can’t really climb in armor.

The castle itself was excellent. We got to wander around most of it, and it was almost closing time, so nobody else was there. We made our way around the stairways, through the myriad rooms, and all the way to the top. I’d heard stories of what people do to the Blarney stone when it’s off hours, but I didn’t worry about it, assuming that hundreds of people had kissed it before me today. We both did the deed, kissed the stone, and took in the breathtaking view from the top of a castle on the top of a hill.

We were then promptly shooed past the murderhole, past a spot Eli snuck up onto, and then out of the castle. We visited the poison garden, a whole garden dedicated to poisonous plants.