Update on the Day 2 post

I mentioned that after the “Welcome Drink” I had dinner in the hotel.  That was wrong.  Instead we were taken outside of Dublin where we went to dinner at the “Merry Ploughboys Pub”.  It is a huge pub that caters to tours .  They offer a great dinner/show with dinner, wine and a great desert.  The also have the Merry Ploughboys who provide some great entertainment.  They are four guys who play Irish ballads and folk music.  They also have several really good Irish dancers.  It was a blast.  Then we headed back to the hotel.

Left Dublin and headed south

Early Tuesday our tour headed south towards Cork.  We made a stop outside of Cashel to take some pics of the Rock of Cashel.  This next pic was probably a few miles away but I changed to my telephoto lenses to get it.

I would have loved to tour it but it was not in our itinerary.  It was just outside the small town of Cashel.

On to Cork

While investigating my ancestry I found out my great great grandfather John Moran came from County Cork.  Most of the Irish immigrants during the potato famine came from this area and got on the boat at Cobh.  The Titanic also stopped here to pick up travelers.

Blarney Castle to get the “Gift of Eloquence”

We then moved further south to the Blarney Castle in Blarney.  This is where you will find the Blarney Stone.  There were lots of people and it took over an hour to climb the spiral staircase to the top of Blarney Castle leading to the Blarney Stone.

The Blarney Stone is the section at the very top of the castle.  Once you started up the staircase there is no turning back since the staircase is so narrow.  Once at the top you have to lay on your back, grab the bars on the side and bend backward to kiss the stone.  You also have this guy holding you up.  It is the craziest thing I think I have ever done.  Once you kiss the stone you are sent forth with the “Gift of Eloquence”.  In other words you then have the “gift of gab”.  Ha! I thought I already had that.

Blarney Woolen Mills

Across from the Blarney Castle is the Blarney Woolen Mills.  They have really nice (and expensive) Irish made goods.  I bought a wool scarf that I can really make use of this winter.  But mostly just window shopped.

On to Killarney

Then we started getting into the mountains.  They are not real big mountains but very beautiful.

We traveled through lots of farmlands.  It was so beautiful.  They don’t have fences dividing the farms, but have hedgerows and rock walls.

Beautiful Lakes

The scenery in this area is very beautiful with many farms, mountains and lakes.

Arrived in Killarney

We arrived in Killarney where we stayed at the Killarney Towers Hotel.  We ate dinner at the hotel and I enjoyed a wonderful lamb dinner.  Yummie!!