Adventures In Ireland: Kissing The Blarney Stone

Today our journey would end in Kinsale, a gorgeous little fishing village located in County Cork. But first on the agenda was a trip to the famous Blarney Castle.

During our travels through Europe and The UK, we visited many castles! While Blarney wasn’t my favourite (it’s a bit touristy), I am glad we decided to visit, even for the views alone which were pretty spectacular.

I remember it being fairly quiet the day we visited and after climbing the very small and steep stairs to the castle top, we had these beautiful views all to ourselves.

Of course it wasn’t long before we were summoned over by a guide to kiss the infamous Blarney stone.

Legend has it that if you kiss the stone it will give you the power of eloquence or ‘the gift of the gab’.

My BF was brave and got straight down to business. Me on the other hand thought the whole act of kissing a stone that millions of others had kissed was a bit gross but of course I caved. After all it’s not everyday an Aussie girl finds herself in Blarney so I got down there and gave the stone what it wanted, a good ol’ peck.

Before we departed Blarney we took a lovely stroll around the grounds including the poisonous gardens which had some really interesting plants such as wolfsbane (I thought this only existed in vampire tv-shows).

(The picture above is of Blarney House located within the grounds. It is absolutely gorgeous but was closed when we visited)

We arrived in Kinsale late afternoon and made our way to The Blue Horizon, a local Pub/B&B that would be our resting place for the night. The rooms were comfortable and clean and were located away from the Pub so we never had any issues with noise.

Located on the ocean front, you could step outside of your room and in a few meters be standing on the beach. It was really overcast and stormy during our stay and we both vowed to come back to Kinsale during the warmer months. We both agreed that with a bit of sunshine, Kinsale would be the perfect summer holiday spot.