Ireland Blarney Castle and Cork Full Day Tour from Dublin

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This tour will take you on a voyage of history visiting a castle, a monastery and Cork city itself.

We depart at the crack of dawn leaving Dublin and passing by the Guinness Factory and also College Green Tourism Office. On the way, you will learn more about the sights that we pass in the city center. As we leave Dublin behind, the urban landscape changes to that of the rolling hills and constant hedges of the Irish countryside. We'll pass an area called The Curragh in County Kildare. This area is ideal for training horses, due to the sandy soil that creates excellent drainage, making it an ideal spot for horse racing. Not surprisingly, the Curragh race track is situated nearby. County Kildare is also well known for horse breeding and vast tracks of lands today are owned by the likes of the Agha Khan and Sheik Mohammed. Close to Kildare Town, you will find the National Stud Farm, world famous for its horse breeding, coupled with the lovely Japanese Gardens.

After a short stop over to stretch our legs, we pass the Knockmealdown Mountains, made famous by the folk song "Kitty Borne O'Brien." This song is a lover's lament for a young woman who emigrates from Ireland to Canada. Like most Irish songs it is either about a broken heart or fighting with the English! Further along the way, we will see the Galtee Mountains, Ireland's highest inland mountain range, with its stony scree-covered summit- but more on the Galtee's under our "Of special interest" section. This is also a famous cheese making area in Ireland. Tipperary is also home to hurling although Kilkenny their neighbour seems to beat them most of the time! Keep your eyes out for handball alleys while on the bus, a traditional sport played mostly in rural Ireland.

We arrive at Blarney Castle and half the day's driving is already done! Blarney Castle, famous for its Blarney Stone, also has lovely wooded walks and "Rock Close"- a garden filled with Druidic rock formations, believed to be dating back to pre-historic times. To kiss the Blarney Stone, you have to bend backwards when on the parrifits of the castle, holding onto iron railings- basically hanging upside down. The reward for your efforts: to be bestowed with the so-called "gift of the gab."

We arrive in Cork City, where we have 2 hours to maybe grab some lunch at the English Market (now with a very international flavour), go marvel at the Gothic St. Finbar's Cathedral, or even ring the bells of Shandon at St. Anne's Church for a small fee. Cork is home to Murphy's Ale and the Ford Tractor factory.

At the Rock of Cashel, we visit this great Celtic Cathedral, which includes the Hall of Vicars, Cormack's Chapel, which has one of Ireland's oldest Romanesque wall paintings and the Round tower, all perched on a solid rock ringed by a curtain wall. This Rock of Cashel, is the seat of the archbishop of the diocese of Cashel and is the sight where the historical synod of Cashel. It dates back from before there Anglo-Norman conquerors and contains an amazing collection of architecture, history and Romanesque art.