After walking up about a billion steep stairs built for midgets, we were halfway there! The Blarney stone is way up at the top of the castle and to kiss it you have to lie down on your back and scoot yourself over a ledge a little bit. There’s a man who holds you up and bars that you have to grip but it’s still rather frightening. Although there’s no way you could really fall through.
We wandered around the castle grounds after making it safely back to ground level and took a rather precarious trip up and down the wishing steps. You have to do it with your eyes closed and think only of your wish though so you can see how that might be a wee bit dangerous.
The gardens were rather lovely though, with many interesting things like Katie’s favorite: a bush you could hide in.
In the 19th century a Victorian-style mansion was built a little ways a way on the grounds because Blarney Castle is old and drafty and the family who lived there much preferred modern amenities to medieval castlery.
We even found our family crest! Well, supposedly our family crest. But still, it’s pretty cool.
This castle actually used to be called the McCarthy Castle until Queen Elizabeth I decided it should be called Blarney Castle, bloody Brits!