Day 3 - Blarney Castle

We headed out of Dublin at 9am & headed south for Blarney.  The city proper has about 1.1 million people and thus has a morning rush hour like everyone else...except for the fact that much of it is on narrow 2 lane roads & shared with cyclists who have to ride in the same lane as the cars.  It wasn't bad though (but I will tell you I am glad I wasn't driving!). 

An hour and a half outside of Dublin we stopped in Cashel for a break.  Cute little town world renowned for its bleu cheese - couldn't find a cheese shop, though :( 

Cashel Main Street

We headed south again and stopped at the Blarney Woollen Mill & we had lunch in the pub there - ordered our 1st pint of Guiness, too . 

Interior of the pub at Blarney Woollen Mill

After lunch, we headed off to the castle.  It is a ruin but all 4 walls are still standing, just no floors in the middle or roof on top.  First we stopped at the entrance to the dungeon & Rachel crawled further than one else.  We then climbed up about 100 stairs (mostly spiral) to the top -- luckily they put ropes and pipe hand rails in so it wasn't too hard.  At the top there is a glorious view of the surrounding countryside!  I was the only one of us 3 to kiss the Blarney Stone -- haven't noticed a difference yet (no jokes out there!)

Blarney Castle as seen from the lower field

We checked into our hotel in Killarney (means "church of the sloth") & had problems with our internet connection so I had to wait to update this blog.  Still having issues getting kicked off so I will add the photos when I can.

***photos added finally!!!