A million glimmering pieces (Waterford)

Rick Steeves describes Waterford as gritty and somewhat dirty. I have to say that it exceeded that description for our family at least.

We made the 1 hour trek from Jerpoint Abbey down to the industrial waterfront town of Waterford. There we met with an incredible pride from the Waterford people, ranging from the iconic and historic Viking ruins to the infamous crystal company.

I think the elements about Waterford that appealed to me are the entrepreneurship and the survival element that is obvious everywhere in this port city. Waterford City sits at the head of Waterford Harbor which was originally a Viking settlement in 853 BC. This makes Waterford the oldest Irish City (which you will hear numerous times if you visit) and The Reginald Tower certainly proves that point. Waterford evolved and struggled over the years to maintain its foothold as a major port city in Ireland.

In the late 1500's manufacturing of cut crystal became popular here and the Waterford Crystal company was established in 1783. Unfortunately, the company closed after about 100 years of business. In 1947 the company was revitalized and has been producing some of the highest quality cut crystal in the world since then.

For us Waterford Crystal is synonymous with quality. When registering for our wedding 19 years ago, we selected several Waterford crystal items. We were blessed with a number of these items by our generous family and friends. As we toured the live and fully working factory, we came to respect the craftsmanship even more.

Today is our 19th wedding anniversary. In addition to attending dinner by ourselves at an amazing restaurant called Zuni (boys in hotel room with room service), we bought each other a set of Waterford Crystal wine glasses. We look forward to toasting each other to many more anniversaries when we get home.

Waterford is not a cushy tourist city. But the tour of the crystal factory is a reminder that craftsmanship has a place in this world. And the Viking museum reminds us that we were standing on grounds established over 1150 years ago. Combined, both present a strong case for visiting this port town.