We were the same hostel from the other night, however this morning when I went down to breakfast there was no tough looking Irish man to taste a blob of vegemite again. I'd had a hard night's sleep, as the bunk I was in only had one side with a rail - so my night was consisted of being veeerry careful when I rolled over! And as I share my pillow with my camera and computer bag, I had even less space to roll over in!
After breakfast, we crossed a busy road to load our bags into the bus. It was the same bus as the first few days, so we had the fear of having to push start the bus again. But luckily we didn't have that joy!
Instead, we drove to Blarney Castle.
Blarney Castle (Irish: Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, near Cork, Ireland, and the River Martin. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy dynasty, Kings of Desmond, and dates from 1446. ( Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, The lower walls are fifteen feet, built with an angle tower by the McCarthys of Muskerry. It was subsequently occupied at one time by Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, who is said to have supplied four thousand men from Munster to supplement the forces of Robert the Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Legend has it that the latter king gave half of the Stone of Scone to McCarthy in gratitude. This, now known as the Blarney Stone, was incorporated in the battlements where it can now be kissed.)
The story goes that Cormac returned to his castle before the blarney stone had been placed. It was late in the evening, and he heard a woman screaming for help. He rushed to the lake where she was downing, and pulled he out. The story continues that he placed her down (by coincidence on the Blarney Stone) and gave her the kiss of life. She then turned to the stone and kissed it, setting the tradition of kissing the blarney stone to be blessed with seven years 'gift of the gab', because she had life to talk again, so would make the most of it. The story is quite a beautiful tale, and not really what I had expected to hear. (Yes I kissed it, because the other superstition is if you get to the top of Blarney Castle and don't kiss the stone you have seven years bad sex - I think if he let her drown without saving her, he wouldn't have gotten lucky later on ;D ) And the placement of the Blarney Stone - seriously if someone can pee on it from the edge of the platform, then geee wizz they have some amazing peeing techniques!
After we left the castle of speech, we drove up to Kilkenny, stopping for lunch and a short photo op. Kilkenny has a castle, cathedral and several other beautiful old buildings to stop and look at.
(Kilkenny Castle (Irish: Caisleán Chill Chainnigh) is a castle in Kilkenny, Ireland built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routeways. It was a symbol of Norman occupation and in its original thirteenth-century condition it would have formed an important element of the defences of the town with four large circular corner towers and a massive ditch, part of which can still be seen today on the Parade.)
After lunch, photos and feeling a little cold, it was soon time to move on. We piled back into the bus, and with sleepy eyes and heavy heads, many people (including myself) fell asleep on the drive back to Dublin. We stopped in to the most famous, very large, well presented and fabulously entertaining Guinness Factory! Now, I'm not the biggest fan of Guinness (had my first pint ~ well half pint to start off with ~ of Guinness in Galway) but I will drink it for St Paddy's Day, or if I have a voucher for a free pint. However by the time I got to the Gravity Bar on the 7th floor of the Guinness showroom (which offers a panoramic view of Dublin City), it was that packed out with people that I wandered around to see some of Dublin from the skies, and wandered back down to the gift shop - where I proceeded to get gifts for family. Geeez... Nice and expensive (you lot better be happy with the pressies I got you, cos I'm not going there again!!) !!!
And this, my friends, was the final part of my 6 Day Tour of Southern Ireland. We got back to Paddy's Palace, where I checked in for two nights, as I need to decide what exactly I am doing now.
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