The castle was built by the local lord Cormac MacCarthy, other tourists find it disappointing being relatively small compare to the other castles (He must be in tight budget perhaps). The castle itself sits on a cliff of rock, serving as an excavation site for the castle. The castle structure implied that it was built in two stages; the right hand is a thin tall tower. The castle can actually be viewed in many angles; one of the good angles would be from the North Wall, giving the most imposing view of the castle, with walls that seems to slope inward. One can also immediately spot an encased large bay window projecting from a wall and supported by a corbel or bracket, which is actually the Earl’s bedroom window. There are also three large square holes as outlets for garderobes, and before you google the meaning of it, apparently it was built downwind :p

The castle obviously back then was of great importance especially during the time of Queen Victoria I. She sent an emissary to the chief of MacCarthy clan to surrender to her the rights to the castle. The poor emissary, every time he tried to fulfill his mission, he was faced with endless nonsense, eloquent but without substance loyalty to the queen statements from the chieftain. The queen in frustration said: “Blarney, Blarney, what he says he does not mean. It is the usual Blarney.” And thanks to Queen Victoria I, the new word was formed:Blarney!

Still on the grounds, there is what they called the Badger’s cave. Well, the appearance may not impress much, it was told that, Lord Broghill, Cromwell’s general broke the tower wall to besiege the castle, the castle was empty except for 2 retainers., the rest had fled through this cave. Legend even has it that there are 3 passages that can be found, one to the lake, to Cork and even on to Kerry…but as they say, this being in Blarney. I didn’t stepped in, with my sense of direction; I might just really end up in China.

Another structure caught my attention; it was the ruins of a Gothic mansion, called as the ‘Court’. It was a grand residence, with 3 •storeys high but the owners found it uncomfortable to live in. It was destroyed by the fire and was never restored. From my perception, the ruin blended well with the castle on the backdrop

Origin:
The Blarney stone’s reputation made a lot of statesmen, actors, orators, and writers join in the queue climbing the steps to kiss it, so that they will not be lost for words anymore.

The stone is believed to be half of the original the Lia Fail or ‘Fatal Stone’, used as an oracular throne of Irish kings, the Harry Potter-version of ‘sorting hat’ , it was presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in recognition of his support in the Battle of Bannockburn. The power of the stone supposedly was then revealed to the MacCarthy’s by a witch saved from drowning, but hey we all love good stories here.
Now, now, why should we pay just to blabber baloney things when you can do it freely? Baloney is not Blarney, there is a difference.
Take this example given by the locals:
Baloney is when you tell a 50 year old woman that she looks 18
Blarney is when you ask a woman how old she is, because you want to know at what age women are most beautiful…
Don’t you agree ?

Hold Me, Dangle Me, Kiss Me:
Back then, to kiss the stone, you must be held by the legs, head downwards over the battlements, and kiss it while you get yourself dangled. So back then, we can only imagine how many people have muster their courage to do this feat, but thanks to ‘technology’, there are now iron bars that we can grasp so that hopefuls like me will only need to flirt with the danger.
It was really an easy task, you lie down, hold the bar, kiss then smile at the camera….so I was really calm about it, besides a crew was also there to assist you in the kissing. When it was my turn, I realized that because of my short stature, my torso was also short! I had to lean more backward if I want to kiss the stone…I can feel my center of gravity was off down and I got sudden vertigo seeing the height of the castle from the ground in an upside down view. So in my first attempt I failed to kiss it…*sniff*sniff* after picking my confidence again, I was more composed now, I lie down again and I still cannot reach the stone! The kind man pushed me forward but with a strong grip on my waist, I then puckered up to the stone and give it with a big smack :D. I got up, my face was all red, the people after me, can’t help gushing “My God, that’s very scary for her” hahahahaha.

Top is the Best Position:
The stone is not the only thing that will make the climb worthwhile, looking on the view from the battlement would put you in awe. My friend, Coffeefairy, once said that “Ireland is so green”….i concur with her…even in autumn, it is soooo greeen.




The Chambers with a view:
While going down, I had then got a chance to explore the chambers of the castle, well the Earl’s does get the big room and I am still confused why is there a room called “the lady and the priest’s room’ :p The Family room was spacious and accessible to the kitchen, but it is still hard to imagine how they manage to move along on the castle with staircases that is very steep and narrow. I got myself stuck in garderobe, before I realize where I was..Ugh.

Enchanting Rock Close:
On ground again, started walking to the Rock Close to marvel again on the unrivalled beauty of Mother Nature.
I did not get disappointed, the light rain shower, made the whole forest more vibrant green.
I spotted the megalithic structure, dolmen first, and on a little bit further I bumped into the secluded passageway, descended by a steep flight of stone steps, called the Wishing stairs. Walk backward downs with eyes closed – and without stopping for one moment to think of anything other than a wish, then that wish will come true within a year….It may be true, but the stone is slippery so I might end up wishing I didn’t do it.

I paid my tribute to the Witch’s Kitchen, contemplate at the Druid’s circle and tried not to imagine anything at the sacrificial Altar.
I was taking a picture of the Head Druid’s cave, when a man suddenly emerged from it, I was so surprised that it made me jump and my camera nearly fell off. He said I can touch him, if I wanted to be sure that he’s real.
Looking at the Witch Stone and I only had to use li’l imagination to realize who was imprisoned there, and I was really amazed by this nature sculpture.

All in all I can say that the greens are intense, each crevice of stone, crevasses on the ground are enchanting, if not enchanted.

Concluding my Blarney affair, others find the place and experience amazing, while the rest find it too hyped up and too passé. Personally, I was miffed with enchantment, for a day, I was transported back to my musings when I was a child, I got the feeling back of a curious child and feeling amused and amazed at the same time, that for me is simply mystical.