Waterford Crystal, Killkenny City, and the East Coast
Another early rise at 5 am to catch the train at Connolly Station to make our way to Wexford. This train takes you south along the Wicklow Mountains which is lovely right now.
At least they're called mountains, they seem to be rather large foothills.
Primarily coastline all the way, you pass through nunerous small towns before you reach Wexford. Anyone else following this route, I'd recommend bringing water, coffee and some kind of snack.
Wexford, as it turns out, is the home of Commodore Barry and the Kennedy family. President Kennedy's father in fact.
Fishing is the main industry in Wexford but they can only fish at certain times as the waters have been heavily overfished.
From Wexford we headed by buss to New Ross, the home of the ship Dunbrody which carried people across the Atlantic and brought back timber.
We toured the ship and was given a view of life from a steerage passenger and from first class. The difference was massive. Steerage slept on straw, slept 5 to 10 per bunk with almost no luggage. First class had a cabin, was served cooked meals and tended not to suffer illness the steerage did. It was a sobering presentation.
They also have a database of names where you can look up your family name. Impressive list all in all.
I thought about that in relation to travel by boat or plane. While the conditions are not unsanitary, the mindset of 'first class' and 'steerage' seems all to similar to 'business class' and 'coach'.
Anyway, next came Waterford. Billy (yes, the same from the Blarney tour) likened it to a whaling town in the States.
The Waterford glass factory resides in Waterford. Dominating a mile square in real estate, they still hand blow glass there for the crystal objects they make.
Each step from making the cast iron molds, to blowing the glass, quality control, and etching is done by hand. The only part not done by hand is the marking where etchings should be done. It takes ten years to make Master engraver. Same for glass blower and so on. Given they make trophies for such as Wimbleton or the New Year's Eve ball, well the hand quality shows.
Next was Kilkenny castle. Kilkenny is known as the City of Marble. There used to be a quarry there with numerous kinds and colors of marble there.
The city has elaborate stonework of various older buildings that have been converted to banks, tenanents and the like.
Just past main street, along the river's edge, stands Castle Kilkenny. As the story goes, the castle had been retained by the family throughout all the uprisings and strife right through to the current age. Unfortunately, the family could no longer afford the upkeep and taxes like so many families that retained their ancestral homes. This one was turned over to the government who opened it for tourism. To this day it's impressive as a small castle and manor.
Given the hour was late we made the choice to skip the guided tour and visit the castle bookstore and rose garden that was in the front.
That was excellent! The layout was wonderful with two stone statues on either side of the front that faced a rounded, almost flower-shaped pool. In the middle of the pool was a statue that I suspect was a fountain, but was not working at that time.
After that we walked across the street to the stables of the castle. The original structure was still there but it had been turned into a gift shop, textile store and restaurant. So instead of walking a good distance, we just opted to eat there instead. I was glad we did, the food was excellent! I had a chicken in a mushroom tarragon sauce. Vegetables on the side of course. Probably had too much coffee today but that's ok. I'll get some water or something when I reach the hotel.
Speaking of which, after dinner we caught the train back to Dublin after some lively confersation with Billy. He's a fountain of stories and it never got old listening to them. From stories about the Titanic to the Luthistania to how to stay healthy!
-- Post From My iPhone
At least they're called mountains, they seem to be rather large foothills.
Primarily coastline all the way, you pass through nunerous small towns before you reach Wexford. Anyone else following this route, I'd recommend bringing water, coffee and some kind of snack.
Wexford, as it turns out, is the home of Commodore Barry and the Kennedy family. President Kennedy's father in fact.
Fishing is the main industry in Wexford but they can only fish at certain times as the waters have been heavily overfished.
From Wexford we headed by buss to New Ross, the home of the ship Dunbrody which carried people across the Atlantic and brought back timber.
We toured the ship and was given a view of life from a steerage passenger and from first class. The difference was massive. Steerage slept on straw, slept 5 to 10 per bunk with almost no luggage. First class had a cabin, was served cooked meals and tended not to suffer illness the steerage did. It was a sobering presentation.
They also have a database of names where you can look up your family name. Impressive list all in all.
I thought about that in relation to travel by boat or plane. While the conditions are not unsanitary, the mindset of 'first class' and 'steerage' seems all to similar to 'business class' and 'coach'.
Anyway, next came Waterford. Billy (yes, the same from the Blarney tour) likened it to a whaling town in the States.
The Waterford glass factory resides in Waterford. Dominating a mile square in real estate, they still hand blow glass there for the crystal objects they make.
Each step from making the cast iron molds, to blowing the glass, quality control, and etching is done by hand. The only part not done by hand is the marking where etchings should be done. It takes ten years to make Master engraver. Same for glass blower and so on. Given they make trophies for such as Wimbleton or the New Year's Eve ball, well the hand quality shows.
Next was Kilkenny castle. Kilkenny is known as the City of Marble. There used to be a quarry there with numerous kinds and colors of marble there.
The city has elaborate stonework of various older buildings that have been converted to banks, tenanents and the like.
Just past main street, along the river's edge, stands Castle Kilkenny. As the story goes, the castle had been retained by the family throughout all the uprisings and strife right through to the current age. Unfortunately, the family could no longer afford the upkeep and taxes like so many families that retained their ancestral homes. This one was turned over to the government who opened it for tourism. To this day it's impressive as a small castle and manor.
Given the hour was late we made the choice to skip the guided tour and visit the castle bookstore and rose garden that was in the front.
That was excellent! The layout was wonderful with two stone statues on either side of the front that faced a rounded, almost flower-shaped pool. In the middle of the pool was a statue that I suspect was a fountain, but was not working at that time.
After that we walked across the street to the stables of the castle. The original structure was still there but it had been turned into a gift shop, textile store and restaurant. So instead of walking a good distance, we just opted to eat there instead. I was glad we did, the food was excellent! I had a chicken in a mushroom tarragon sauce. Vegetables on the side of course. Probably had too much coffee today but that's ok. I'll get some water or something when I reach the hotel.
Speaking of which, after dinner we caught the train back to Dublin after some lively confersation with Billy. He's a fountain of stories and it never got old listening to them. From stories about the Titanic to the Luthistania to how to stay healthy!
-- Post From My iPhone
posted by Chris Ash | 2:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home