22nd May ...

OMG.... sailing into Cobh this morning was amazing....beautiful homes lining the harbour... green hills...we were in IRELAND and excited for what our day would bring.

Its always hard when you pull into port on a cruise ship....so many people all wanting to make their way to the same things... and we did feel we made a slight stuff up with the transport this morning. We were unsure if it would be better to take the taxi or a train / bus. We regretted our decision of taking the train when it wasted so much time. But hey! it was still a beautiful morning and we were in Ireland...and it didn't matter in the end.

Our first destination was the Blarney Castle and gardens.... this castle was built nearly 600 years ago...and is world famous for the "Blarney Stone" at the top of the tower...legend has it that if you kiss the stone of eloquence you are never stuck for words again.



The gardens and surrounds were beautiful ... and the weather was perfect.

The queue for the Blarney Stone 'kissing' was long...and we debated skipping it.... but Donna was keen...and I was more than happy to line up as well.

The boys wandered the gardens while we waited patiently... Ian checked out the 'Poisonous Garden' and was delighted to spot rhubarb with a skull and crossbones sign....he has never liked it...and now he knows why.

The queue for the Blarney stone took just over an hour I guess..... we could see the stone above...and were keen to get our turn.


Finally made our way to the top of the tower and the view was spectacular...


Then it was our turn...you sit on the edge.... lean over backwards and kiss the stone.

(You can see some stone kissing action below.)

 All the way I was saying "Ill do it...but I am not actually letting my lips touch that germy stone".... but in the excitement of the moment I forgot and planted my lips fair and square on it (insert eeeek face) I then spent the next hour intermittently rubbing my lips with hand sanitiser. I am so glad we chose to stick out the queue.... it was a really special moment for Donna.. and one she will never forget.


From the gardens we wandered back to the Blarney Woollen Mills and the Pub for a delicious Irish stew and mash for lunch.

It was sad saying goodbye to Blarney....we had spent a beautiful part of the day here.
Luckily we had enough time in the port of Cobh for a look through the Titanic exhibition ...Cobh (then known as Queenstown)was the last port of call on its fateful voyage.
 Then it was time to jump back onboard the lovely Caribbean Princess which looked particularly massive today as it dwarfed the port buildings.