Waterford

Today we left beautiful Tullamore, land of my ancestors, and drove to Waterford. Colleen (our GPS, or "SatNav," as they say here) must have taken an unscheduled coffee break, because we wound up on some very narrow roads that we're pretty sure shouldn't have been part of this fairly straightforward journey. We paused in Abbeyleix to reset Colleen, then continued on our way.

I looked Abbeyleix up afterwards. It  apparently has lots of historical structures, such as ring forts, burial grounds, churches, beautiful estate houses, and is situated near a 12th century Cistercian monastery. Every little place you go through has something to offer, and it makes me want to spend a year here trying to see everything.

We had big sightseeing plans for after checking in to our lovely hotel. After the drive and its extra leg, though, we felt more like doing our sightseeing right here in Waterford, and not going too far afield.

The Waterford Marina Hotel is right on the River Suir, and our window overlooks the river, which has a lively population of swans, herons, and gulls. After getting settled, we started off with lunch — my kind of lunch, let me tell you! I had a steak pie with crispy potato topping, served with two big scoops of mashed potatoes, and a good helping of scalloped potatoes, along with lots of sliced carrots and cubed turnip. Yup, three root vegetables and no sign of anything green. Oh yes!

Next, we set out on foot. Our first stop was Reginald's Tower, the oldest civic building in Ireland, and the only urban monument in Ireland to retain its Norse or Viking name. It was built in 1003, as part of the city wall, by Reginald (Ragnall), son of Ivar, the Norse king of Waterford. It was originally a wooden tower, but was replaced with stone  between 1253 and 1280.

We climbed the narrow, steep, winding stone stairs to the top floor, where we saw an audio-visual presentation, then worked our way down through the three floors of exhibits. Fascinating!

After, we walked up to Christ Church Cathedral, where we saw the tomb of James Rice, who was Waterford's mayor several times during the 15th century. "A fine example of a cadaver monument," they call it. The Elliot Organ is magnificent, with its gold-plated pipes and solid mahogany casing.

The cathedral had very little stained glass, but the ornate ceiling was beautiful, and the many features, plaques, memorials, tombs, and so forth were all interesting. The building is on the site of a Norman cathedral, the rubble of which was used to construct the new church. One of the original support pillars of the Medieval building is visible in the nave of the cathedral.

We continued to walk around the town through the Viking Triangle, and past the Greyfriars Friary ruins (below). Founded in 1241, it was one of the earliest Franciscan foundations in Ireland. Now only the nave, chancel and an aisle remain of the original complex. We wound up at the Medieval Museum, which is supposed to be very good. It closes at 5, though, so we missed our chance. We might do it in the morning.