17 – Blarney Castle
The Blarney Stone at the Blarney Castle is something Ireland is famous for, but it seems to have been created as a tourist attraction. Our tour guide didn’t know of any real historical reason that kissing the Blarney stone was supposed to do anything. We did learn why the word “Blarney” has a meaning in English. It turns out the town was always late with taxes or some government fees. The queen was told after a few years they would be late again and said something like, “Oh, it’s always the same old Blarney”(?)
As you can see, there is a great park around the castle you can go walking, sightseeing, etc. You can see the Blarney Woolen Mills from the top of the castle. There is lots of high quality clothes there and some tourist stuff, too. Here is my final suggestion: Do NOT put your face on the stone up in the castle where kids put who-knows-what on it at night. It may be very famous and it is “sterilized”, but you have been warned.