The Washington Post: Road trip...Cork, Blarney Castle and Kinsale

This past weekend Chad and I headed south to explore a little more of Ireland. This was a very last minute trip! In fact, Friday night we booked a hotel in Cork for Saturday and mapped out where we wanted to go. We have a lot of friends from Cork who have many great things so say about it so we were excited to see it for ourselves.

Cork is about 2.5 hours from Dublin so we loaded up the car and headed out the next morning. We checked into the Radisson (thank you Hotels.com) and went into the city to explore. Honestly it was bigger than I expected! There were tons of shops, restaurants and things to see. We had a little lunch at Soho and walked around town.

Welcome to the Radisson, Cork

Lunch!

I had heard there was a famous English Market in town that was visited by Queen Elizabeth II last year. We of course had to check it out and see what the fuss was about. The market has been there, in some form or another, since 1788 and boasts amazing fresh fish, meats, fruits and baked goods. Many of the local restaurants get their goods here. I was in heaven! If only we had been closer to home so I could have done my shopping for the week!

Entrance to the market

Inside the market

Yummy cheese!

Baked breads and other goodies

Fruits and veggies

Gross!

Would you eat this?? That is one ugly fish!

Cute dress shop

After our walk around town we headed back to the hotel to clean up before supper. One of our friends had suggested a restaurant called Il Padrino for dinner and luckily we were able to get a late reservation. It was a cute little Italian place with mood lighting and excellent food! We both left stuffed and wishing we hadn't opted for dessert (even though it was really good).

The next morning we packed up and headed for Blarney Castle. It was pouring rain the entire drive there and even while we were getting our tickets! Then, all of a sudden the clouds parted, the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day. Let me just say we loved the castle!! The grounds were breath-taking! Chad and I both commented how we would love to have land like that some day....with or without a castle on it of course.

First off, we walked to the castle and went to the top to kiss the Blarney stone. P.S I'm not feeling any more eloquent since kissing the stone : (

Beautiful flowers everywhere!

Castle through the Japanese Maples

Sitting in the old dog kennels


Dungeon

In front of the castle was watch tower used for...well watching for people/invaders : ) Chad says he wants to build one of these when we build a house. That way when he retires he can sit up in it and "monitor" his land...He's gonna be such a fun old man (and by fun I mean crotchety)!

Watch tower in front of the castle

Wouldn't you want to live here?

View from the top

View of the mansion house from the castle

After the castle we explored the grounds. They have gardens, a mansion house, Druid ruins, waterfalls, a witches kitchen and tons of other things to see. The tree below had branches that sprawled out like elephant trunks...it really needed a tree house!


This would be a perfect place for a nap or to read a good book!

The Blarney mansion was built in 1874 by the family that owned the castle. The house is open for tours but happened to be closed when we were there.

More gardens

Paul's Glory (just for my father-in-law)

There was apparently a witch that occupied the land at some point in history. These steps are called "The Witches Steps" and legend says that if you walk up and down with your eyes closed while thinking of a wish it will come true...We had to give it a try anyways.

This tree is the entrance to the witches kitchen


Leaving the castle!

After Blarney Castle, we took another friends recommendation and headed to the small town of Kinsale. It was only about a 45 minute drive from the castle and the perfect spot to stop for lunch.

Brightly painted shops

This guy was hanging outside the grocery store

Adorable B&B!!

Fishy Fishy Cafe was recommended as a good spot for lunch (Thanks Ciara) so we stopped in to check it out. Now for those of you who know me well, I am not a fish eater. I have been trying to be a little more adventurous though and yes I did have fish...tuna steak to be exact. I mean, you can't really go to a place called Fishy Fishy with pictures of the fishermen who caught your lunch on the walls and eat chicken! The tuna was good...I'm still not in love with it but I am proud of myself for trying new things.