Kiss The Blarney Stone? ~ Me Thinks Not

CowboyCraic · Guru

Kiss The Blarney Stone? ~ Me Thinks Not

wojazz3 · Guru

You have my complete support here. There are so many reasons not to kiss that stone and so few (if any) good reasons to infect one's lips. Perhaps one of the best marketing scams/tourist traps around. Ant other contenders for that?

Bill

Michele Erdvig · Host

Bit,

Thanks for sharing the article. In all my years visiting Ireland I have never been enticed to kiss the Blarney Stone. I think the grounds are lovely especially in the spring when the trees are blooming. The castle ruins are atmospheric. But if you are the least bit claustrophobic going up the stairs to the top of the tower to kiss the stone is not a good experience. Many people are not aware that the stone is up hundreds of tiny, tight spiral steps. When I have been there I have overheard tourists wondering where the stone is. Those who have trouble getting around will not want to go up to the top and perform acrobatics to kiss the stone. Admission is not cheap either.

A few other places that I thought were not worthwhile were Cashel Folk Park (a bunch of junk in a few thatched out-buildings) and the Irish National Heritage Park (thought it was run down and hokey).

Not far from Blarney is Barryscourt Castle. It has lovely grounds, free admission, nice and knowledgable guides. What it doesn't have is the hype and the stone. Maybe we should have a contest to make up a story about Barryscourt so it will attract lots of tourists. Then again, let's keep it a secret!

Michele

CowboyCraic · Guru

Michele, Mo Chara,

I am rather fond of the obscurity of Barryscourt. I think that it is far nicer than the Disneyesque Blarney Castle. It has some very interesting stories of its own without having to make them up. I happened to be in the area during the Carrigtwohill Medieval Festival & Country Fair in July of 2006. If you get the chance, it is a day of mighty good craic!

I was dragged to the Irish National Heritage Park on my first trip. I made sure that it never happened again.

Slan Agus Barrogs, Bit

-- Edited by CowboyCraic on Tuesday 21st of July 2009 05:05:27 PM

shashie50 · Veteran Member

I have to admit that I did kiss the Blarney stone on my first trip to Ireland, nearly 20 years ago, with my parents. They had "been there, done that" and apparently thought I should not be deprived bleh

At least I wasn't there at a busy time, so not much waiting in line for the privilege. However, no gift of eloquence or wit was bestowed upon me cry

sorry to say...

Although the grounds were pretty and the Woolen Mills store was BIG, I would not encourage anyone to go out of their way to stop there. So many many other more interesting sites to see!!!

Are you referring to the Heritage Park in County Wexford? I managed to miss that. Lucky me! But it makes me wonder, is there any site along those lines that does a better job?

Marsha

meredith · Veteran Member

Not that I have anything to compare it with, as it was the only one of its kind that we saw, but the Ulster American Folk Park just out of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland was very good I thought. It was well set out and maintained, and the people who worked there were informative and friendly. Even though it was based on Ireland's links with America, it still held a lot of relevance and interest to us Aussies with our own strong Irish migrant heritage.

Regards,
Meredith