Waterford, Ireland’s Oldest City

We arrived in Waterford in the middle of a downpour.  In fact, it pretty much rained the entire time we were there.  No worries, we are from California and these days pretty much never see the rain, or the cold, so it was a nice break!  Our first stop was Reginald’s Tower, a building with a Viking History.

This was originally the site of a wooden Viking fort built after they first landed here in 914.  The first written mention of the tower is in the Irish Annals in 1088, making this the oldest civic building in Ireland.  The present rock tower was built by the Anglo-Normans between 1253 and 1280.  The tower has been used constantly, starting as a fortress, then a mint, then weapons storage, and now a museum.  Normally there are Viking artifacts inside, but they are currently offsite for refurbishment (damn).  The top floor has a video that explains the history of the tower.

There is a replica of a Viking ship adjacent to the tower.  Looks way too small to be on the open ocean, but I guess nothing is too much for Vikings!!

The area around the tower is referred to as the Viking Triangle, encompassing several historical buildings and museums.

There is a virtual reality experience called King of the Vikings, which is pushed as a “must see” on Trip Advisor.

We participated in this, and it was interesting to see the depictions of the Vikings in the Waterford area, but I think the VR experience is a bit dated.  The characters and the surroundings you see look like old video game textures from 20 years ago, so they need to update this.  At least the site where they seat you has a traditional thatched roof which is amazingly good at protecting you from the rain.

No trip to Waterford would be complete without visiting the Waterford Crystal factory!  The added bonus is it’s indoors…did I mention it was raining?

The tour takes you through all the steps of the artisans work, starting with the glass shaping and blowing.

They mark up the finished product for the cuts that will be put into the crystal.

Using those marks they then cut into the crystal.  The cuts must be 2/3rds of the way into the glass, no more or less, to pass their strict standards.

At the end of the tour they show off some of their special projects.

We particularly liked Van Gogh’s Starry Starry Night, which is a one of a kind.

The last one was made as a tribute to 9/11.

Even though I’m not a big fan of Waterford Crystal, particularly not their stemware (egads!), the tour was excellent, particularly if it happens to be raining that day!  Next up, we head to Kinsale, just south of Cork.