We go on a Viking "virtual tour".

We were up early and down to breakfast.   The hotel cooks breakfast to order.  It was very nice every day we were here.

Soon, we started our walk down to the Viking Triangle.  This is a group of blocks in town that have the oldest buildings, and many are Viking related.

We were heading to the Viking Virtual Experience.  It was very good.  

Our two guides were dressed as Vikings and were extras in the TV show 'Vikings'.  They both had degrees in Viking history and archeology.  From their opinion, the show is more dramatic than historically accurate and was instead made to attract the Game Of Thrones audience.  Being a virtual experience, we were fitted with VR head gear as you can see in one of the pictures.  We sat and were transported to see battles, building, sailing of Viking ships, and lots of history.  They did a fantastic job of presenting the history of Vikings and the impact on Ireland.

The 'experience' sits in the remains of the Grayfriars Abbey a French Church. 

The Church has an interesting history.  It was built by the Blackfriers who arrived in 1226.  Henry III give permission for a friary to be built for the Dominicans. The church was active until 1540. The Irish Court of Inquisition held here in 1626. WOW!

Next, we walked past a large Chess set with 4 ft tall pieces and then on to the Waterford Treasures Medieval Museum.  As we entered, we were directed down to the basement to wine cellar.

Next we walked up into an area that had several medieval era carved stones, a layout of the original walls, and a head with antlers of the elk that long ago lived on the island.​

We realized that our walking tour was about to start and we spoke with the admissions to make sure we could return after our tour.  We met the tour near by and our guide was great.

After the tour, we stopped into O'Sullivan's Vintage Social which was more like a restaurant than a pub.  Below is the menu. Prices are in Euro's. At this time, the Euro and US Dollar were only a few cents apart so when you see 21 euros it is a little more in dollars.

From there we returned to the Medieval museum and the 800 year old wine cellar.   They also had a ship model entirely in silver.

We left the cellar and then on to the upper floors where we were able to see Church Vestments from 1460s.  These were found during the demolition of the medieval cathedral.  An iron chest was found under a large floor stone and contained the vestments.  They are made from Italian silk embroidered in gold. The vestments were hidden and buried underground to protect them from Cromwell's siege of Waterford in 1650.  This is the most complete set of vestments from this time period.

The museum had many more displays.

Next we went back to Reginald's Tower. It was completed by 1280. 

It is amazing that this tower had so many uses.  From a protective tower for the city, a mint, military storehouse, the location of the wedding  of Richard de Clare and Aoife, a prison, and finally a museum. 

It is amazing to know that this tower has stood for more than 745 years.

In England and Ireland many buildings have these disks to indicate the significance of a building or location.  This one was for the writer of the dozens of stories about a detective.  A dozen movies have been made from those stories.

King Richard II's armadas landing.

The Irish flag was first displayed and flown here in Waterford.

We were thirsty so decided to stop in Reg's, a pub directly behind the tower.

Then we took a walk around town finding more of the wood carvings.

 
Found a new pub for dinner then back to the hotel.