Day 12: July 2nd

We have 2 nights in Waterford and that was a good choice. It’s a really pretty place on the southeast coast of Ireland, and a pretty wealthy area but the look of the general housing, shops and facilities.
We set off for a Sunday morning coffee at just after 9, which turned out to be about an hour too early but we did find a Turkish place open and the coffee (in takeaway cups) was pretty good. Tap water in a plastic beaker was an additional couple of euros!
The streets were empty but the town feels nice. Evidently the population is about 60,000.

We headed in the direction of the Waterford crystal factory (only 300m from our hotel) and booked a guided tour.

Almost all of the crystal is made here with raw materials from Belgium, Holland and Germany. There is a smaller factory in Slovenia where they produce the coloured glass and some clear stock.

The showroom has a wonderful selection of items for sale at big prices. However after taking the tour we understood why. Everything is hand made to some degree. Machine cutting is only to get precision start lines and the rest is done by craftsmen.

This gin balloons are a snip at €360 for the set of 4.

The glass blower is making the bases for the crystal tumblers. Anything imperfect goes into the recycling and goes round again so no wastage.

All of the specialty pieces are made using Beech wood moulds that come from local trees. Each mould lasts for only 6-8 firings. The trees and the port are the reasons why the factory first established in Waterford. The moulds are made by craftsmen at the factory.

After the tour we went across the road to the bishop’s palace, which is a museum and cafe. We had late brunch which was excellent.

The Bishop’s palace museum and cafe is directly across the road from the factory.

Next door is the Theatre Royal with this wonderful sculpture outside.

Mike and I decided to do one of the recommended activities on Jen’s itinerary, which was a cliff top walk. We found one only 20 minutes drive from Waterford at Dunmore East. It’s a lovely fishing and seaside village with lots of water themed activities. We wandered over the edge of the cliffs and along the cliff top walk for a couple of kilometres until it threatened to rain and then headed into the village for an ice cream.

Some of the housing is a bit like 1950s style New Zealand. Loads more single storey houses.

These 2 have views straight out over the sea. Rather nice baches.

There was an Optimist class yacht race happening when we arrived and loads of kids enjoying a confidence course set up in the inner harbour cove.

On arrival back into Waterford I noticed this plaque on the end of our hotel. Interesting.

On arrival yesterday we noticed that the wing mirror cover is missing from the car. The damage photos they sent seemed also to show it missing but it was described as ‘small crack’. We think it probably wasn’t fitting properly and blew off on the way although their photo definitely shows wires suggesting it was gone when we collected it! Note to self: check the hire car first. Hopefully it won’t be a drama when we return it.

The Grandville Hotel was recommended to us for dinner and grand it was. We got a 3 course meal for €40 which was 2 courses more than we actually wanted or needed but it was good. After dinner Mike and I sampled an Irish whiskey in the bar. We were amused when 2 of the staff proceeded to hang American bunting all around. It is nearly 4th July after all and the biggest importers of Waterford crystal are the good citizens of the USA.