Waterford Treasures & Dublin

Sunday Day 1 – This morning we travel west to Fishguard in South Wales for a lunchtime crossing to Rosslare, which has a scheduled arrival time of 4.30pm. The transfer to your hotel in Waterford will take approx. 1 hour where an evening meal is included.

Monday Day 2 – Breakfast included. Today is dedicated to the City of Waterford where we begin with an included ‘Epic Walking Tour of the Viking Triangle’ where your guide will entertain you with 45 minutes of facts, fun and frivolity. The tour gives an engaging overview of the 1100 year old history of Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city. Unique in Ireland this tour does not expect its patrons to stand outside and subject to the vagaries of the Irish weather while being regaled with stories. Instead, you are treated to a fascinating exploration inside several national monuments which span some 1100 years of history and where some of the great events in both British and Irish history took place. This tour will terminate at the Bishop’s Palace café where refreshments can be purchased.

A combined pass for the Medieval Museum and the Bishop's Palace is included for your next visit which begins with a 1 hour guided tour of the Museum. This will introduce you to Medieval Waterford, as the magnificent curved façade of the warm butter-coloured stone building draws in the visitor. It is Ireland’s only purpose-built medieval museum and the only building in the country to incorporate two medieval chambers, the 13th Century Choristers’ Hall and the 15th Century Mayor’s Wine Vault. Make time to see the stunning Heavens' Embroidered Cloths, Waterford's cloth-of-gold 15th Century vestments. This is immediately followed by a guided tour of the Bishop’s Palace. This exquisite architectural jewel is now a museum and continues to delight over 250 years after it was built. The ground and first floors are laid out as a historic house with some of the finest displays in Ireland of 18th Century glass, silver, furniture and paintings. The oldest piece of Waterford Glass in the world is a highlight. The top floor continues the story up to 1970 ending with the Hucklebuck shoes. You will then have free time to buy lunch and explore a little at your leisure before this afternoon’s included visit to the famous Waterford Crystal where a 1.5-hour factory tour is included, taking your visit to a whole new level. You will see exquisite pieces of crystal created before your very eyes. Returning to the hotel your evening meal is included.

This Irish Emigrant Experience tells the story of famine emigration from the point of view of those who left. The brave and desperate and above all, ordinary people who chose to leave everything they knew for an uncertain future abroad. Your tour takes you to the quayside of New Ross, where the Departure Exhibit will set the scene of famine emigration as waiting for you is The Dunbrody, a 3 masted barque, your home for the month long trip to New York. On board, your tour guide will explain the harshness of conditions on the voyage. Costumed performers play the roles of famine emigrants, and bring the experience to life. At the end of the tour the Arrivals Hall will show you the fate awaiting those who survived the trip. It would take generations of hard work and loyal service, before the Irish community were to become an accepted and respected part of North American society. Lunch can be purchased in the Captain’s Table Restaurant located on the first floor of the Visitor Centre which offers one of the most unique dining experiences and has a reputation for delicious and well-priced food. Over-looking the River Barrow, there are wonderful views through its contemporary glass fronted building and from the restaurant there are uninterrupted views of the Dunbrody Ship, the Emigrant Flame and the busy town of New Ross.

Suitably refreshed we next visit the Kennedy Homestead, the birthplace of President John F. Kennedy's great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy. The homestead celebrates the story of five generations of the Kennedy dynasty and is still today farmed by his descendants. During your guided visit you will learn about the multitudes of Irish who fled the Great Famine. Patrick Kennedy departed from this Homestead for the port of New Ross on a wet day in 1848 to set sail for the United States where his descendants were to become the world’s most famous family. The Kennedy Homestead is a unique Cultural Museum and Visitor Centre, celebrating this family history like no other. The final visit today is to the Hook Lighthouse, the oldest operational lighthouse in the world where a 30-minute guided tour will take you through the lighthouse with fascinating insights, stories and facts of this unique medieval building and its 800 years of the Lighthouse history. (Multiple stairs involved). Returning to the hotel dinner is included.

Wednesday Day 4 – Breakfast included at the hotel. Checking out of the hotel today begins with an included visit to the National 1798 Rebellion Centre. During this visit you will meet the key figures of the Rebellion, participate in the state of the art 4D battle of Vinegar Hill Experience, discover how weapons from the period worked and learn in gruesome detail how some 20,000 insurgents faced the might of 10,000 well-trained and well-armed Crown Forces. Next, we visit Wells House & Gardens where a group lunch can be pre-arranged (extra cost). During the Living House tour your guide in Victorian dress will bring you back to a time when the magnificent ground floor and bedrooms witnessed the stories of Cromwell, Rebellions and the Famine. Uncover the everyday lives of not just the families who lived in the estate but also their famed architect Daniel Robertson and their tenants, giving you a unique insight into the life of previous generations.

A 3 course meal is served prior to the show, an evening of highly entertaining performance of live traditional Irish music, song and Irish dancing. Midway through the show some of the All-Ireland and World champion Irish dancers will perform a specially commissioned show. After this fun-packed evening we return to the hotel.

Thursday Day 5 – Breakfast included. Today begins with an introductory guided tour to Dublin, a city as intimate as a village and as friendly as an Irish pub. Framed by mountains, centred on a river and edged by a beautiful bay, the city's streets and alleys are filled with vibrant art and historic buildings, hip cafés and traditional ‘old man"’ pubs, as Dubliners call them. You will see some of its beautiful buildings including Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, The National Art Gallery and the Four Courts. You will of course also visit the Statue of Molly Malone with her barrow where you might like to sing a few lines of ‘Cockles and Mussels’ which has become an unofficial anthem of Dublin city.

Included is an audio-guided visit to Europe’s largest vaulted library located above the Treasury, where the ‘Book of Kells’, Ireland's greatest cultural treasure, is displayed. The Old Library located in the grounds of Trinity College is a ‘must see’. Marvel at the magnificent Long Room which houses 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books and is one of the world's most beautiful libraries.

You can then either choose between free time to explore at your leisure or you might choose to pre-book an optional visit to the Guinness Storehouse, to pay homage to Dublin’s most famous drink and see a panorama of Dublin from its glassed Gravity Bar. Returning to the hotel a 2-course dinner is included.

Friday Day 6 – Early hotel breakfast before the short transfer to the Port of Dublin for a ferry crossing (8.15am) to Holyhead, with a scheduled arrival time of midday. Retracing our steps homeward, comfort breaks will be made during the journey, returning you to your original departure points this evening.