Day 1: Following your home taxi collection, you will join our luxury tour coach as we head to North Wales to our overnight hotel, The Celtic Royal in Caernarfon. We arrive with ample time to settle in before our evening meal.
Day 2: An early start to board the morning ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. Due to the early departure from the hotel, breakfast is on board the vessel. After disembarkation, we head south to Waterford and our hotel for the next 4 nights, the three-star Dooley’s Hotel, on a dinner bed and breakfast basis. You can relax in the bar with a welcome drink while your luggage is taken to your rooms.
Day 3: Today is a day of leisure in Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland. It is the perfect blend of ancient and modern. Enjoy the historic streets and local atmosphere, take a walking tour or maybe browse many local boutiques and quirky shops. First visited by the Vikings in 852AD, the walled city has retained much of its medieval character, together with the graceful buildings from its 18th-century expansion. Reginald’s Tower, the city’s landmark monument sits at the heart of an area known as The Viking Triangle, and has been in continuous use for over 800 years. Step inside its thick stone walls, and you can enjoy an exhibition on Viking Waterford, as well as the magnificent 12th century Kite Brooch. (attractions today subject to individual choice and payment)
Day 4: This morning our destination is Kilkenny, a medieval time capsule built around its magnificent castle. Upon our arrival and to help you find your bearings, you are treated to a 40 minute tour of Kilkenny aboard the city tours road train. The rest of the day is free for you to explore this wonderful city at your leisure.
The Palladian-style Green’s Bridge welcomes you into Kilkenny, leading you over the River Nore, where you can walk the city streets and discover The Black Abbey, St. Canice’s Cathedral, Rothe House, and much more. Be sure to explore Ireland’s Medieval Mile, a discovery trail running through Kilkenny city.
Day 5: Today we head to Wexford where we find the Dunbrody Famine Ship, one of eight cargo vessels that the Graves Family commissioned from the expert shipwright Thomas Hamilton Oliver. She was built in Quebec and launched in 1845, the year that a major Potato Blight struck Ireland. In the ensuing famine, more than a million people would flee the country. So many people wanted to leave Ireland that there were not enough passenger vessels to carry them all.
To cope with the demand, merchants like the Graves family outfitted their cargo ships with bunks and sold tickets for passage across the ocean. This exhibition Incorporates a guided tour, costumed performers and themed exhibitions of the highest quality, and provides a unique insight into the bravery and fortitude with which Irish people faced up to a desperate situation.
As you enter the exhibition, you arrive on the dock at New Ross Quay. The scene in front of you is William Graves’ ticket office and you overhear Ann Morrissey, a 25-year-old housekeeper from Glenmore, paying the balance of her fares.
With Boarding Pass in hand, you join the throngs of emigrants gathering in the Embarkation area. Here you get a vision of what impoverished refugees, who risked everything they had, including their lives, might have felt as they stepped on board a ship setting sail for a dangerous journey to an American life.
The next section of the exhibition, Voyage, takes place entirely on board the ship. Here, in the steerage accommodation, you meet fellow “passengers”, Mrs Anne White and Mrs Mary O’Brien, who engage you in conversation, freely sharing their opinions and experiences of the journey.
Eventually arriving in the New World of Savannah Georgia, you will hear heartrending tales of the tragedy at the quarantine station of Grosse Ile, and see how fellow emigrants adjust to their new environment.
With a million and a half people migrating during the Great Hunger, it would take generations and much hard work for the Irish to define themselves with respect and dignity in North American culture.
The American Hall of Fame at the end of our tour reflects the realised dreams of impoverished emigrants—the large numbers of Irish Americans who have made significant contributions to our world—the Kennedy dynasty, Henry Ford, Georgia O’Keeffe, Eugene O’Neill, James Watson, and many more.
After our visit, we head back to Waterford, where the rest of the day will be at leisure.
Day 6: Sadly this morning, we depart our hotel and head back to Dublin Port where we board the afternoon ferry back to Holyhead. Upon our arrival we continue to our overnight hotel in North Wales.
Day 7: This morning we continue our journey back to Norfolk, making suitable stops en route. Arriving early evening, you will find our door to door taxi service waiting to return you home.
Holiday Information:
6 Nights Dinner, Bed & Breakfast (Dinner will be table service)
Price: £1035pp
Single Supplement: £176 (Will be allocated a twin or double room for sole occuancy at outbound overnight & main hotel, return overnight tbc)
Insurace: TBC (Insurance not currently available)
Tour Reference: AWE5062
Deposit Required: £70pp
Balance Due: 10 weeks prior to departure