Cork, Blarney and Cashel

The third day of my crazy Irish tour was back down in the Republic of Ireland.  Once again I was on an organised coach tour, because I had so much to fit in!  I wanted to get to Cork in particular, but I was also keen on seeing the Blarney Stone (I need better chat, it seemed like I needed to get there).  I found a tour that did Cork, Blarney and Rock of Cashel and I thought that would be perfect.

Rock of Cashel

Sadly, my Cork tour wasn't quite as good as my Northern Ireland tour - the guide was plainly in a hurry to get back to Dublin to get to the pub or to bed or something, because he was determined to rush us through as much as he could.  He also had a visceral hatred for the English which colored his entire commentary (and in case you're wondering if he was trying to be funny, he definitely wasn't).  However, at least I got to get to three new places which was winning!

Rock of Cashel

Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel.  Cashel is actually a teeny tiny little village in Tipperary which is the cutest place.  I wish we'd had time to visit it properly as it was adorable, but we were pressed for time and only had time to visit the Rock itself.  The Rock is a collection of mediaeval buildings which were formerly the seat of the kings of Munster.  Most have now crumbled into ruins, but the Round Tower still exists, as does the Cathedral.  The old walls are also mainly still standing and contain a lovely graveyard within them as well as the buildings.  The Queen visited Rock of Cashel in 2011 and an entire room within the Cathedral is dedicated to her visit, but otherwise the main attraction is the graveyard and the rolling views across the Tipperary landscape - it is really stunning, and totally what you'd expect from Ireland in that it's green, has a lot of cows, and loads of space!

We only stayed at Rock of Cashel for about half an hour, but that was about right in terms of timings anyway as there isn't much to do once you've taken the obligatory hundred or so photos.  We drove down through the countryside to Blarney, where we were dropped with strict instructions to be back within three hours.

Blarney Castle

Chocolate Factory!!

My first introduction to Blarney wasn't the castle, but the high street.  This was because before I hit the castle, I found the sign pointing to the Chocolate Factory!  This definitely seemed worth a visit, so I popped along.  It wasn't quite as exciting as I'd anticipated, being just one room, but it does have lovely chocolate and, most importantly, it has samples and tasters!  Once I'd managed to eat my own body weight, I rolled back out of the door and along back to the Castle.

Blarney Castle Gardens

Stairs up to the Blarney Stone

The Castle is actually amazing - it's surrounded by the most lovely gardens where there are all kinds of weird things going on.  The first thing I saw was this guy, dressed as an elf, playing the harp.  I don't think you could ever find this anywhere else.  Passing him, I headed up the path, past the trickling stream and over the stones, up past the caves, and eventually found myself at the entrance to the Castle.  Lucky I ate all that chocolate - I needed it for the next bit!  Once you get into the Castle, it's a mass of winding staircases, tiny rooms (with terrifying drops in the floors), and little enclaves.  Once you've finished exploring them, if you have the will, you can climb up the world's narrowest, most winding staircase to the top where the Blarney Stone is housed.  The Stone is actually set into the wall, so you have to queue around the turret (and back down the stairs, if you're particularly unlucky, but it was pretty quiet when I was there) while each person kisses the Stone in turn.

Kissing the Blarney Stone

I hadn't quite appreciated before I did this that to kiss the stone you have to lean backwards over the parapet and underneath it's a sheer drop underneath the stone to the ground, a good 35ft above a concrete courtyard below.  Banging.  Especially since heights are not my favorite thing in the first place ... fortunately, however, they have installed metal handles that you can grab onto as you bend backwards, and there is also a nice man who holds you steady (although not particularly forcefully, so I hope his reflexes are good!).  In the event I managed to get through the kiss without tumbling to my death which was winning.  However, that meant that I had to go back down the winding staircase (which was about the same width as me, and I am not a large person ... built more along the midget scale really) which almost scared me to death anyway.

The top of Blarney Castle

Once I'd navigated my way out again, I spent some time in the poison garden.  There are loads of different gardens within Blarney Castle but that was the one that interested me the most and, since I didn't have loads of time, I spent most of my time in the gardens in there.  The plants in the garden used to be used for medicinal purposes but are highly toxic in anything but the most minute quantities.  It was super-fun in there, imagining all the potential Agatha Christie-esque plots that could be hatched using the herbs there!  Once I was done there, I went back down the path to the exit, but this time I stopped at the Owlery and Falconry just below the Castle itself.  I'm not sure what the purpose of this was, but it was heavily populated with slightly bemused looking owls and falcons.  They didn't seem too keen on socialising so I left them fairly quickly and headed back across the road to the Woollen Mills to have lunch.

Poison Garden

The Woollen Mills are HUGE!  I spent some time looking in the tourist shops before I went into Insomnia to grab some lunch.  I had already learnt to LOVE this coffeehouse chain - it's sort of like a cross between Pret and Starbucks but way better than both!  It had loads of sandwiches and salads, plus this amazing herbal tea.  I really liked it!  I had a bit of time to spend over my crab noodle salad (oooh posh), but eventually it was time to get back on the bus and travel the 20 minutes or so to Cork.

Cork was, frankly, a bit of a disappointment.  We were warned by the driver that almost nothing would be open because it was a bank holiday weekend.  I hadn't really believed him (he was such a miserable sod) but actually he was right - nothing was open!  Luckily I had really only wanted to walk around and to visit St Anne's Church Shandon ... because ... you can ring the bells there!!!  I'd read about it before I went and I was well keen to check this out.  Therefore,I had just a very quick scout round town.  It was really pretty with loads of art deco buildings, built on either side of the river.  However, as nothing was open, it was difficult to get a real feel for it, though it was very pretty.

Main Street in Cork

After I'd looked around for a bit, I headed up into Shandon to find the church.  After a couple of false leads, I finally found it tucked away in a sort of hippie courtyard, full of coffee houses and tea shops and art galleries.  I was issued with a pair of noise-cancelling earphones, with instructions to put them on and climb up through the church to the next floor, where the bells were.  I dutifully put on my earphones and trundled up the stairs, but there was already someone ringing the bells when I got to the next level, so I continued up and through the belfry to the very top of the spire.  You can go outside here and look at the panoramic views over Cork - it's well worth it!  It was freezing up there and massively windy, but it was so beautiful that I stayed anyway, looking out at all the different facets of the city.  Eventually however I climbed back down (and I do mean climbed, some of the access way involves climbing over a sort of stile thing next to the biggest bell!) and back down to the bell-ringing room.  There's a whole book of tunes you can play and they're actually super easy!  I stuck to Frere Jacques because I know it, but had I felt so inclined I could've played songs as complicated as Amazing Grace.  The poor, poor locals.  They must be nearly deaf with all the incompetent tourists getting hold of the bell ropes!

Bells of Shandon

Once I'd played to my heart's content, it was time to get back to the bus.  I did have a quick squizz round the church itself and it was beautiful, but I didn't really have time to linger and I got back to the coach just in time.  From there it was a straight run back up the motorway to Dublin and the end of our trip.

In summary, Cork was a bit of a disappointment but then again, maybe if anything had been open it would've been better!  The bells at St Anne's are loads of fun and I would definitely recommend them.  Similarly, I'd also massively recommend Blarney (not just the Castle, but also the village and the Woollen Mills) and Cashel - I really wish I'd had more time at Cashel to explore the village.  However, I wouldn't recommend the specific tour that I did ... especially if you're English!  Unless you're really keen on vitriol being poured into your ears about the iniquities of the English and a disparaging stare being levelled at you every time you open your mouth with your appalling English accent, I would definitely go with someone else!

Cork from the St Anne's spire