Waterford

Up at the scrake of dawn to get to Waterford before the crowds made it impossible. It took long enough and the crowds had already arrived but the city was very well organised with hordes of city double-deckers ferrying folk from the car parks into the city.

East Bank

Waterford, like Wexford, is a built on the banks of a river with an ancient quay running the length of the city. Waterford though is very much bigger as is the river, the bridges and the quayside. Tall ships lined both banks of the river with bunting and flags of all sorts and sizes fluttering in the breeze. It was almost a carnival atmosphere except the raucous energy of fun-rides was missing; a very civilised sort of carnival.

West bank: city side

People crammed the quays strolling up and down. Eateries, pubs and everywhere in the town was thronged with good-humoured families oogling the ships. In a little museum sort of place (where we had some yummy eats) an exhibition of photographs was on display showing the famous ships built in the city when its seaport was in its heyday. Apart from the crowds and colour there was not much difference from the riverscape of than and today.