On July 26th, we arrived in Cobh (pronounced Cove), Ireland. We decided that we needed to see Blarney Castle, so off we went on another shore excursion. On the way to Blarney Castle, we drove through the town of Cork. From the windows of a bus, it's not a very pretty place.
Blarney Castle was beautiful. Here's our first view of it.
I love round towers.
It's fascinating to see how the castle was built out of the rock.
I love this view. 
The beautiful free-standing bell tower.
Many people go to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. Robert and I decided not to do that for two reasons. 1. We didn't want to climb the 100 narrow, slippery steps. 2. We didn't want to wait in line for two hours. We only had 2-1/2 hours at Blarney Castle, and we wanted to shop at the Irish Woolen Mill. I have my priorities! If you look at the top of this picture, you can see where people kiss the Blarney Stone - a feat which requires you to lay on your back and lean way over the edge (probably reason 3 why we skipped it). 
We were intrigued by this garden on the castle grounds. It was really full of poisonous plants. 
I'm glad we went to Blarney Castle, even if we didn't kiss the Blarney Stone. It was a beautiful castle to see. And the shopping at the Irish Woolen Mill was fabulous!
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