Killarney - Blarney - Waterford
Today we travelled across the Kerry Mountains and through County Cork to Blarney, famous for its magical Stone of Eloquence. The Blarney Stone is a block of bluestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab (great eloquence or skill at flattery). The stone was set into a tower of the castle in 1446. We had to wait in a queue for a number of hours to climb to the top of the tower to kiss the stone. To kiss it, you had to lean backwards (holding on to an iron railing) from the parapet walk. After lunch, we drove past Cork, the country's second-largest city, and via Dungarvan to Waterford where we visited the Waterford Crystal Factory. We stayed at the Quality Waterford Marina.