Day Three: More gardens and some precarious kissing.
This morning we boarded the bus at 8:30 for the 45-minute drive to the city of Cork (Corcaigh). We stopped at Beechwood Garden, a one-acre, award-winning home garden owned by the Kirbys.We saw both familiar and exciting new plants such as African rope grass, giant Scottish thistle, and variegated tulip and dogwood trees.
We saw more lovely scenery today: snowy egrets, ruins of stone buildings among modern ones, many colorful public and private plantings. On smaller roads, ivy-covered trees hung over us, almost creating green tunnels.
At Blarney Castle, the group split up to sample different opportunities. Many climbed up the steep, winding castle steps, either for the view or to kiss the Blarney Stone (to accomplish this, you have to lie on your back and lean your head out over the top of the castle!). Gardens included the Poison Garden, the Herbaceous Border, the Jungle, and more. One favorite space was the Rock Close, and a favorite side activity was shopping at the Woolen Mill, the world’s largest Irish gift store.
We could have explored Blarney all day, but we needed to get on the road again. It was a beautiful ride, including a stop at Macroom, the site if an old castle, where Ron bought us fresh strawberries to sample. The ride through County Kerry took us through mountain passes into the quaint town of Killarney, Kevin’s home town. Once there, we checked into Brook Lodge Hotel. After that, we made our own choices for the evening: dinner, Irish music at the pubs, shopping, walking or visiting beautiful St. Mary’s Church. Then off to bed, to rest up for another busy day tomorrow.
