Blarney Castle to Tramore, Ireland October 4, 2026

Our first stop for today is Blarney Castle, home of the famous Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. 

The castle is located in County Cork, and was built by the clan McCarthy over 600 years ago. 

First glimpse as we came into the small town of Blarney

The castle is not visible unless you pay to enter the 100 acre grounds. They've certainly figured out how to benefit from tourists. We paid our 19 euro senior rate and walked to the first view point.

Views of the castle.

At the center top is the stone to kiss

Closer view of someone up there laying on their back and reaching out backwards while someone holds your legs to kiss the circled area.

Post card showing view from top

One legend of the stone is that the Laird of the castle saved a drowning woman, who granted him a wish. He stuttered, so he wished for good speech. She told him to get a stone from the river and kiss it which gave him the gift of gab and eloquent speech. He then hid the stone at the top of his castle. 

Or, maybe this sign is the truth. 

We passed on that entire experience. It was 90 steps to climb to the top, and then the whole laying down backwards just didn't appeal to us, but several in our group did do it.

The castle grounds have beautiful gardens, I'm sure even more so in summer. They even have a poison garden teaching about poisonous plants. 

There was a stone circle. The story is the Laird had 9 children, 2 sons and 7 daughters. The 2 sons were killed in battle, so he knocked over 2 stones. The 7 standing are for the remaining daughters. 

Jamie Fraser, here I come!!

Harbor where 1950s movie Moby Dick was filmed

 

Our second stop of the day was the harbor town of Waterford, Ireland's oldest city, conquered by the Vikings in the 9th century.  

Reginald's Tower, constructed in 1253, is the only monument in Ireland named in honor of a Viking. There is also a Viking longboat replica.

Also in Waterford is the iconic House of Waterford. We looked around at some of the beautiful crystal pieces. The ones shown below were for sale from 25,000 to 60,000 euros. The Christmas tree didn't have a price. Not today!

Of course, they did have drinking glasses and vases for much less, only hundreds instead of thousands. 

The Irish tricolor flag was first flown here in 1848. It was designed by Irish nationalist, Thomas Francis Meagher. The green represents Protestants, the orange Catholics, and the white peace.

In the evening, we attended an optional excursion, a night of music and drink in a typical Irish pub. The entertainer, Richie, was a great singer and very funny. He sang some old and new songs. It was a very enjoyable evening!!

Our route for today.