Puckering up for the gift of the gab

Kissing the Blarney Stone has been at the back of my mind since I was a kid. I don't know when I heard about it but I just remember learning that

there was a ruined castle in Ireland that thousands and thousands of people visit just so they can kiss a legendary stone, and I knew I wanted to do that too some day. It was one of those cool/lame/funny/random/famous things to do that you know is out there in the world before you even know what overseas travel is - like seeing Stonehenge or the Hollywood sign, riding a double decker bus or petting a kangaroo. So I was very keen to actually be crossing this off my list.

As it's now the off peak season and we were there in the afternoon after the coachloads leave there were no crowds at all. This meant that we could go straight up to the top of the castle battlements with no hour long queue (as there was the first time I visited in Summer). After climbing up a gradually narrowing windy staircase you get onto the battlements and follow them around to the opposite side where there is quite a little set up. Two guys are there waiting, one to take your picture with a huge permanent camera (optional souvenir photos are a whopping 10 euro or 18 for two); the other seated next to a big squishy plastic mat, ready to help you reach down to the stone.

The worn-smooth stone is set into the wall below the battlements and there is big gap between this and the parapet walkway. So to kiss it you have to sit down and lean right over backwards. There are two iron bars attached to the wall and the man helps you to grab these, then holds onto your legs as you kind of shuffle back and down. You sit right up against the guy and feel like you are almost going in for a kiss with him before you lean back. The old guy throws out a few hilarious flirty lines and you have a great laugh, as well as laughing when the sheer absurdity of what you are actually doing hits. It's surprising how far you need to lean down and it's a very strange experience! You stay down long enough to get a couple of pictures taken before being gently helped up to a sitting position again, and it's all over pretty quickly.

It was a pretty odd but fun thing to do. Not sure about the whole "gift of eloquence" thing but you get a good story out of it so guess that counts?

Here's some pics of the gardens and castle - the leaves hadn't quite changed enough yet due to the lovely late summer but I'll always love wandering around this gorgeous place.

Looking up to where the stone is