Blarney Castle, Yes I called it an Irish tourist trap and I mean it, but if you keep reading I will explain why I called it a tourist trap and why I think it’s worth visiting. And yeah, I should have written this blog months ago when I came back home from Ireland. My bad, but let’s keep going.
So my husband and I have been to Ireland many times now, probably 4 or 5 times, and each one of those times we talked about where we wanted to go and what ruins we wanted to try to see. Blarney Castle always came up in the conversation and each time my husband suggested we not go because it always sounds like a tourist trap. I agreed not to go cause I figured there are other castle ruins we would find.
On our last visit to Ireland, we had the same conversation. This time I told him I want to go to Blarney Castle. I don’t care if it’s a tourist trap it’s still a ruin. I mean I could care less about kissing a stone so many other people have kissed. I just want to walk up the stairs of a ruin in Ireland. So he agreed. The day finally arrived for us to go to Blarney and when we got there I was pleasantly surprised. Just the outside of the ruin alone was enough to wow me.
Here’s the thing about Blarney Castle I didn’t know that made me love this ruin, you don’t just walk up a bunch of steps to get to the top and kiss a stone. Now to be fair I have seen a couple of documentaries about Blarney Castle and not one of them showed the entire castle ruin. They would show the outside and then they would show you the inside from way up top. So I had no clue what was actually there until we got there and saw for ourselves.
Blarney Castle is in reality a rather cool-looking ruin to visit. We waited in line to walk up the steps and then to my surprise I found out there are rooms we can go into and walk around. I love that! Getting to explore that castle ruin while we walked up the windy steps until we got to the top was so cool. Getting to do the same exact thing on the way back down was just as much fun. Seriously, Blarney Castle was fun to explore. Any time I get to walk the halls of a castle ruin I’m going to take it. When I get to see the windows or sit in a nook in a castle ruin I’m going to take that chance.
So, yes Blarney Castle is a very touristy place to visit and you do need to buy tickets to get in and I will say that their souvenirs and cafe are on the expensive side, however putting all that aside, this castle is a good place to visit if you love castle ruins as much as I do. For a side note, we went in March which is not tourist season and the lines were a bit on the long side, so if you are going to go during tourist season be prepared to stand in a long line and have fun.
Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel