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Strolling around Cork and Blarney Castle.
County Cork is situated in the
Nicole and Robin are with us for the weekend.
Cork is a huge city, cleaner than Dublin, not many people have a lot of positive things to say about Dublin, we all love Cork. Stayed at The Gresham Metropole Hotel it was superb, Keith was excited by the elevator and luxurious décor. Gresham's "Leeside Leisure" is a state of the art leisure centre complete with gym, pool, sauna and Nicole checked it out before breakfast and would like to move to Cork already. The hotel is a well known landmark in itself, and is just a few minutes walk away from the sights and the steepest street in Cork.
Today Saturday 7th November, is a land mark day as the sun was out! Yipee… Of course after breakfast we had to walk the hill, check out the views, take photos and chat to any brave sole that actually challenged themselves to cycle up this "heartbreak hill". One guy did and all he kept on repeating is "I'm going to die, oh my god that was tough, I'm going to have a heart attack…" it took a while for him to recover and for his other 3 mates to actually meet up with him. They walked parts. Smart.
Walking down hill we headed to the produce market where the coffee was awful, but the fruit and veg looked really fresh. By now the sun was rapidly disappearing as forecasted the cold front moved in really quickly bringing rain and a sudden drop in temperature. So we had to buy another umbrella. We are collecting them. The centre of Cork is very lively, bustling with shops and it has a magnificent produce market known as "The English Market" with a scrumptious assortment of fresh and cooked food. chicken to Kangaroo to cream cakes to cheeses to pickled everything.
Next stop was Blarney, Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone. The stone is a lot of "baloney" not "blarney", but there is history to it, relating to Scottish Kings being crowned. Blarney's grounds are vast the gardens are grand and the Manor House is grand along with it's stables. The castle is austere, cold and would have been very dark. Rooms are pokey, and the circular stair wells are steep and very narrow. They had to be small people. The castle is formable, and I feel very uncomfortable to live in, certainly warmer than outside and certainly safer.
Some history. Blarney Castle was originally a timber hunting lodge built in the 10th century, which was replaced by a stone castle in 1210. The present day construction was completed by Dermot McCarthy, King of Munster in 1446. The Castle remained the ancestral stronghold of the McCarthy family until the arrival of Oliver Cromwell with cannon guns in 1646. Fifteen years later with the arrival of King Charles II on the English throne saw the return of the McCarthys to the Castle. Following the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, all Irish chiefs were stripped of their powers and the McCarthys were again forced to leave Blarney Castle. The Castle was sold to Sir James Jefferyes, Governor of Cork in 1703. The Castle is now owned and managed by the Trustees of the Blarney Castle Estate
The world famous Blarney Stone is situated high up in the battlements of the castle.
We followed one of the several long, stone spiral staircases up to the top to enjoy the spectacular views of the lush green gardens and fields which are now peppered with autumn colour; Blarney House and The Village of Blarney. Nicole and Robin "kissed" the stone. We gave it a miss, we can do "blarney" with out the stone.
Some more history. The Blarney stone is believed to be one half of the Stone of Scone which originally belonged to Scotland. Scottish Kings were crowned over the stone, because it was believed to have special powers. The stone was given to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in return for his support in the Battle of Bannockburn.Queen Elizabeth I wanted Irish chiefs to agree to occupy their own lands under title from her. Cormac Teige McCarthy, the Lord of Blarney, handled every Royal request with subtle diplomacy, promising loyalty to the Queen without "giving in". Elizabeth proclaimed that McCarthy was giving her "a lot of Blarney", thus giving rise to the legend.You too can acquire the gift of eloquence by kissing the stone! Baloney!
But the castle and grounds are well worth a visit. And I bought a souvenir, my first.
Hungry, we headed to find the Fishy Fishy Café at Kinsale, south of Cork, to have the best seafood dinner in the whole of Ireland. We were not disappointed, from the oysters, to sea food chowder, to scallop risotto, to seafood pie (with out the pastry) to black sole deliciously grilled. Topped of with a crisp sauvignon blanc, followed with lemon and raisin pudding and apple rhubarb crumble and coffee. We were happily full and delighted that we made the side trip to savour the "Best fish restaurant" in Ireland.
South West of Ireland, it is the largest of all the Irish counties and in many ways the most varied. Rich farmlands and river valleys contrast with the wild sandstone hills of the west, and above all there is the magnificent coastline scooped and fretted by the Atlantic into great bays and secret coves, strewn with rocky headlands and beaches.
Made Kilkenny by 6pm and Keith did well driving along the 180km in the dark narrow roads to our BnB (Bregagh House BnB, Dean Street Kilkenny). It's comfortable, clean and well appointed. Kilkenny is larger than we thought, we had a short walk to stretch our legs and the town has a lot of history which we will explore tomorrow. Girls were walking around in their high heels and skimpy skirts not feeling the cold but looking good. It was 5 degrees Celsius and Keith was thinking that the girls needed a coat.
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