Romancing the Blarney Stone

The view of downtown Cork from our hotel room
at the beautiful Hayfield Manor

Thursday was a day of relative relaxation, with all of us in a super good mood after our fabulous overnight at Hayfield Manor in Cork, quite possibly the finest hotel I’ve ever stayed in . .  . not only was the room large and decorated beautifully, but also the staff was genuinely concerned that you had anything and everything you could possibly want.  After dinner we joined Aaron, Melissa, and Chloe as they luxuriated in the indoor, heated pool that was truly fit for a Hollywood mogul - elegance and class everywhere you look and everything you touched.  We were excited to hear that our hotel for tonight was the Hayfield Manor’s “sister hotel”.

A short drive from Cork we journeyed to Cobh (pronounced Cove) which is the seaport of Cork, and made famous for a couple reasons.  First, it was the port of departure for Irish emigrating to America or other foreign lands in hope of a better life.  And, second, it served as the departure point for the Titanic, and we know how that ended.   Finally, it was only about 25 miles off the coast from this point that the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine and lost nearly 1,100 lives, many of them American, and brought the United States into World War I (although it was later shown that the Lusitania was, in fact, carrying heavy arms as well as a lot of men, women, and children).



The stone walls built 160 years ago by women and children
trying to live through the Potato Famine

Between 1848 and 1950, 2.5 million Irish people emigrated to the US from Cobh directly (out of a total of 6 million during that period).   In the early years, conditions were so deplorable they called these boats "coffin ships" because you were as likely to die from malnutrition or disease on the transfer as you were to make it to America. 

The Potato Famine from 1845 to 1848 was particularly bad, as men, women and children massed in the area, trying desperately to escape.  Sympathetic landowners put many women and children to work by building high stone walls to shield their property, providing for a day's work a bowl of soup and one shilling for the very hard work.   Irish Americans in Boston actually raised $150,000 to provide food, clothing, and the like for their starving brethren in Cobh, and sent it on relief ship "The USS Jamestown".

Many families held an "American Wake" for their departing husbands and sons. Much like an actual wake to honor the dead, it was basically a wake-in-advance since they didn't know if the person leaving would ever live to make it to America.  And today, we climb on a plane, complain about the cramped conditions, and get off in another country in a matter of hours. 

Additional notoriety for Cobh came as the departure point for the Titanic on April 11, 1912, and we all know how that ended - as we used to sing as children - kerplunk it sunk, cha cha cha.  But one thing less remembered or romanticized in movies was the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915.  Torpedoed by a German submarine, 1,198 passengers died, and 700 were rescued.  More than 100 bodies washed up on the shore of Cobh.  Whether the Germans mistook it for a "Q-ship" (heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines into vulnerable surface attacks) or actually carried weapons of war was debated for many years, the sinking caused a storm of protest.  It was the spark that caused America to enter the war in 1917 and bring World War I to an eventual conclusion (and once again the Americans rescued Europe).

From Cobh we moved on to Blarney, Ireland for - you guessed it - seeing the world famous Blarney Stone which is said to impart the gift of gab (or as the Irish call it "the gift of eloquence").  Up an incredibly steep, winding set of about 100 stone stairs some of us trudged to the top of the Blarney Castle.  I must admit being more than a little concerned about my life although there were handrails to hold on to, and periodically you could step out to flat spaces which were originally rooms in the castle build in the 15th. century.  Some of my family raced ahead unconcerned (Aaron, Melissa, Chloe, and even Cheryl!) while I moved onward and upward in my quest to kiss the Blarney Stone.

Finally, at the top!  The "stone" is actually embedded into the castle wall, so to kiss it one has to lie on their back and extend themselves out over open space, protected by a couple iron bars, while the guide boosts you out and holds on to you to prevent you from falling to a certain death (or so it seemed in my mind). 

Not sure the picture here captures my terror adequately, but my eyes were as big as saucers and I have to say I was terrified, even if only for a minute.  But kiss the damn stone I did so hopefully I get eloquence from that adventure for the rest of my life.   Later that evening, Chloe was talking my leg off so I definitely think it impacted her and I'll leave it to her parents to determine if it was a positive one!

The grounds of the Blarney Castle also contained the Blarney Woollen Mills, so my recovery from the near death experience involved me following Cheryl and Mary Lee inside to peruse what were, admittedly, a fabulous display of Irish goods.   Cheryl bought a little something for herself as well as a few gifts, so back on the bus toward our hotel for the evening, what I earlier referred to as the sister hotel of the fabulous Hayfield Manor.

I often use the expression "beggars can't be choosers", and I think it applied here.  While the Royal Kilarney in Kilarney, Ireland was indeed nice, it might be a 6 on a scale of 10 where the prior night's sister hotel, the Hayfield Manor, is a 10+.  At any rate, I slept like a proverbial log and didn't dream of falling from the top of Blarney Castle so it was another day concluded in the beautiful Emerald Isle.

Tomorrow (Friday) is largely a bus tour of beautiful Dingle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  We were offered the more tourist-travelled Ring of Kerry or its sister peninsula, Dingle, and chose the latter.   I'll let you know upon the next posting if it was wise decision.