More day trips - Waterford

Back in August I headed off to a small city called Waterford, about 2 hours 15mins bus ride north of Cork. Waterford is often the first stop for couch tours in Ireland since it is nearby one of the UK - Ireland ferry ports.
Due to it's harbour location it has historically been the most important city after Dublin, and it's actually Ireland's oldest city - there was a viking settlement there in 853! It was a lovely sunny day so I had a really good wander around the central 'Viking Quarter' - the nickname of the historical part of the city containing a big medieval museum, a viking museum, a cathedral and The Bishop's Palace (a grand mansion house). The viking museum is housed in a big round tower called Reginald's Tower, which is Ireland's 'oldest urban civic building' and the oldest monument to retain it's viking name. There are also huge pieces of the old city walls still intact so a very interesting city to see.

Reginald's Tower with Viking boat display

Christchurch Cathedral

The cathedral was surprisingly and refreshingly light and airy

Medieval museum

Back of the Bishop's Palace

Some gorgeous ruins

One of the old city walls

The city is also famous for being the home of Waterford Crystal - the most well known brand in the luxury crystal market. Not that I know anything about that - but as mum had strongly hinted it'd be worth a look I definitely couldn't visit this city without checking it out.

 I'd heard about it a little bit with all the tourist pamphlets I read and had also come across a 2-for-1 voucher for the factory tour. I was by myself but I decided to try to use it anyway by asking at the ticket desk for them to let me know if there were any other solo people about. I had barely got this question out before the nice woman waved it aside and charged me less! She charged me for the student price as well so I got in for 5 euros instead of 13. One of the downsides of solo travel is not being able to use this type of discount so it was a great unexpected bonus!

The tour was about 50 minutes long and was pretty good, though it felt very strange to be ushered right in front of the workers to ogle them. They were pretty used to it though since this is a huge tourist attraction and the tours run every 20mins, every day, with probably 20 or 30 people in each group. I felt like such a tourist sheep, taking photos of people going about their work day only a few metres away. It reminded me of the Cadbury factory tour in Dunedin, and also of my work in Rangiora Bakery where there was a big window for people to peer in and see the running factory. It's both incredibly interesting to see these things, especially a craft like crystal, and just plain weird to stand and watch at the same time.

Random collection of back ups for finished pieces - trophies, awards, ornaments etc

9/11 memorial piece

Apart from that it was a good tour and it was interesting to learn about how the crystal is made, shaped and polished; and how it takes years for the workers to finish their apprenticeships - sometimes up to 10 years, especially for the engravers! I had a good look around the huge showroom/shop afterwards and just admired the work - and the lifestyle lived by the people who buy this stuff! Along with all the 'everyday' items like drinking glasses, alcohol decanters, candlesticks and giant vases there were heaps of speciality/show pieces - the company produces so much that they actually have several factories throughout Europe, but the Waterford branch is where the special commission or show pieces are made.

This harp is yours for a cool 30,000 euro

Beautiful globe for 14,000 euro

Anyone got a spare 40,000 euro?

The chandelier section. Drool.

Also, the cafe in the Waterford complex is worth a mention just for the sheer size of the cake selection. There were even pink lamingtons! Very impressive haha. (They are unheard of over here...)

The bus ride back to Cork (just over two hours) was very good too with plenty of sun to highlight the pretty coastal route. I particularly loved coming over the top of a hill and suddenly having the town of Dungarven and it's harbour appear.

The town of Dungarven

Coming up to the town of Yaughal