Day 11: Waterford Crystal, Real Italian Food, and . . . a Stud Farm?

Here’s the 10th post sharing our adventures in the British Isles and Ireland from September 29 to October 17, 2025, for genealogy, business, and sightseeing. Hope you enjoy it!

Thursday, October 9, 2025

We hopped back on the bus at 8:30 a.m. (latest day yet) for another ride through pretty Ireland. Well, as much as we could see through the sight-obstructing vegetation on both sides of the road. Some are hedges and intentional, and some were just random clumps of trees. I hate to hate on plants, but I was here to see stuff!

As usual, our tour director, John, shared interesting facts with us.

• The term, “beyond the pale” originated in Dublin and refers to the area outside of the city’s fifty-mile radius. 
• John pointed out the beautiful Georgian homes on the way out of Dublin. Jim thinks Georgian architecture is “boring.” I thought that was funny coming from a numbers man. 
• Neither the Romans nor the Celts conquered Ireland. You might remember that the Romans gave up trying to conquer Scotland.
• Incidentally, there are lots of people riding bikes and walking in Dublin. This is always curious for us to see coming from the USA where we love our automobiles.

We were headed for the Irish National Stud [farm] and Gardens in County Kildare. I can’t say this would ever be on my bucket list, but I do love horses.

Horses are an important part of Irish culture, a spiritual connection originating with the Celts. Horse racing is one of Ireland’s favorite sports. County Kildare is the country’s heart of horse racing, and the horses from there win a lot.

Sue was our guide at the stud farm. She told us that in horse racing, sex does not matter. Male and female perform the same. We learned about the business of horse breeding, frequency, number, etc. They had a lovely gift shop, but I couldn’t imagine bringing something home to my grandchildren from a stud farm and trying to explain what that’s all about!

Note from Jim: Ireland horses are bred for long distances vs. speed for United States’ bred horses. This is because United States tracks are shorter than those in Ireland.

After touring the Irish National Stud, we strolled through the Japanese gardens, which were built by wealthy Scotsman William Hall-Walker between 1906 and 1910. He wanted to symbolize the “Life of Man” by blending Eastern philosophy with Western horticulture. A better explanation is all that horse manure has to go somewhere.

We then traveled to Kilkenny and took a group photo in front of Kilkenny Castle, which we didn’t get to go in. This was a repeating scenario on this trip, which I found irritating. Like, I went there, but not really. . .

The first Kilkenny Castle, probably made of wood, was built by Richard le Clare, Lord of Pembroke, known as Strongbow. He came to Ireland around 1170. The first stone structure was completed in 1260 and was later renovated by the Butler family, one of whom was Lady Margaret Butler. She married Sir William Boleyn, paternal grandfather of Anne Boleyn, the unfortunate second wife of King Henry VIII of England. In 1967, Arthur Butler, 6^th Marquess of Ormond, sold the castle for £50 to the Castle Restoration Committee for the people of Kilkenny. Funnily enough, the castle did not have a gift shop, and the shops across the street had no direct castle-related merchandise that we could tell.

We enjoyed wandering around the Kilkenny streets and enjoyed some ice cream, which was getting to be a lunch time habit. It’s filling, easy to find, consistent in its constitution, and relatively inexpensive. Oh, and it’s delicious, of course.

Soon, it was time to hop back on the bus and head to Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland. First stop, the Waterford crystal factory tour.

At the Waterford “factory” tour, we observed how the glass is blown and etched by hand. Something seemed off, so I asked if all the Waterford crystal is made there. The guide said a lot of it is made in Slovenia, and she showed me how to check the markings at the bottom. The word, master, on the bottom indicates it’s made in Ireland, but she said even if it doesn’t have that designation, it may have been made in Ireland. Jim has a Waterford bowl from Erie Insurance marking his 20th anniversary, so we checked it when we got home. We weren’t surprised that it lacked the “master” designation. It is still a very pretty bowl.

After the Waterford tour, we met a man named Mike for an optional walking tour around the city. He was very knowledgeable and we really enjoyed his tour.

Reginald’s Tower is the oldest building in Ireland, around 900 AD. Its walls are ten-feet thick, and it was the first structure in Ireland to use mortar between the stones. The first structure was built by Viking pirates, and the Normans replaced it with this one. Ragnall, a Norman, whose name evolved into Reginald, founded Waterford in 914 AD. 

After the Waterford tour, we went to the Three Shippes pub and enjoyed a complimentary pint. We could have had dinner there, but we had plans to find a nearby Italian restaurant.

Once we finished our pints, we headed down the street to the Waterford Marina Hotel, right on the River Suir. Our room overlooked the river, so that was pretty cool. I had a similar experience when I wrote for a technology magazine and my room hung over Monterey Bay in California.

We asked trusty Google AI where the best Italian restaurant was, and it pointed us to Emiliano’s, the most authentic, family-owned Italian restaurant in Waterford, with staff direct from Italy. It also said it was only 400 feet away, but it was really a 10-minute walk.

Jim had been jonesing for pizza, but when he saw the menu and heard the specials, he decided on ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach. I ordered spaghetti and meatballs. Our middle child would have loved the not-sweet sauce, but I do prefer a sweet sauce. That didn’t stop me from eating it, though! Jim’s ravioli came with a blush sauce, which he normally doesn’t like, but he really liked it. I had a couple of his ravioli, and I agreed. I also shared my delicious meatballs with him.

The staff were all curious as to where we came from, and one said he could tell Jim was Italian. So, there was conversation about where in Italy Jim’s people are from, etc. This, of course, ensured top-notch service!

To get back to the hotel, we used Google Maps, and it got hopelessly confused, which made me greatly distressed. I was tired after a long day. Luckily, Jim was not confused at all, and he got us back to the hotel in a jiffy. I don’t know how he does it. He did the same thing in Romania while driving a rental car to the airport return in the wee hours of the morning.

Tomorrow a ferry ride to Wales and a tour of Cardiff Castle!