Waterford
About two months ago now myself and the ladyfriend packed up the car and took ourselves to Waterford for a cheap break away in a city I hadn’t been to since I was a child.
The journey down to our hotel in the seaside town Tramore was tumultuous to say the least. Using an out-of-date Sat Nav takes up more time and effort then using road signs. The journey was made more difficult then it needed to be by the fact that we ended up going completely off-road to make a pit stop thanks to the sat nav, which took us back on our way, but not back onto the main motorway that went right into Waterford.
After a good hour of driving around the back arse of nowhere we eventually found our way and decided to ditch the sat nav. Using Google Maps on the iPhone to get us back on track, we followed the road signs into the city center and again used the phone to find Tramore, and the hotel.
First impressions of the hotel were great. Driving into a picturesque seaside down with arcades, take aways and a fun fair is great, but noticing your hotel is atop a hill looking down on all of it really seals the deal. At this point it was late, so after a stroll around the town we hit the hay. Or at least, tried to…
The hotel appears to be some sort of safe haven for party revelers. Which is odd given the hotel has the decor of an elderly woman and the staff hardly promote the wild nights that go on. No less then three stag and hen parties were on our floor alone, all up drinking to silly hours in the night. We didn’t sleep well that night, and got moved to a smaller, smellier room thereafter. Our new room swapped the view of the ocean for a view of the side of a shop. Not ideal, to say the least.
One of the biggest tourest attractions is obviously the newly refurbished Waterford Crystal tour, which was brand new and had all the bells & whistles of a big tourest spot. It was still being revamped and the staff were clearly new to the “tour giving” industry, but it was pleasant. If I hadn’t have only paid concession prices (student card, baby!) I would have been a bit disappointed in the short time it took to do the tour. In fact, most of it was spent standing there gawking at employees making crystal ornaments like you would zoo animals.
Another huge tourism center is on the corner of the street where Waterford Crystal lies – a monument to the walls that once held Waterford in, away from invaders during the viking era. The round-tower has an interesting story. It started life as a defense post and moved on to become a place where coins were made. The video displays on the top floor were mind numbing. With old, desperately in need of replacing, plasma in the TV – colours were washed out. A boring voice talked about walls for 15 minutes. I’m not even making a joke here… there literally was a 15 minute video about walls, and how Waterford is one of the worlds most prestigious cities in the “walled cities” group of cities.
We went to a nice Indian restaurant on the waterfront on our final night in the city, which was a genius idea because they let you bring your own wine. So, loaded with Aldi wine, we enjoyed probably one of the nicest Indian meals I’ve ever had – and I’ve had a lot of them. It was on the way here that we learned why there were stag nights in the hotel. The taxi driver informed us that the hotel waive the drinking laws for large groups. They lower the cost of the rooms considerably because they’ll make the money back in the residents’ bar. The hotel was advertised as a quaint, but polished place in an ideal location. At this point we were in a noisy red light district type place with a view of the side of a shop. All we were missing was a neon sign outside our window.
We then went for a few pints in the hotspot of Waterford – which encompasses a crossroads section of town where four bars lay on each corner. All slightly different, but all owned by the same person. Why? Because then he can control the cost of booze. It didn’t seem expensive by Dublin standards, but you would expect to pay less and for your money to go further in a place like Waterford. The clubs are only going to suit 18 year olds looking to feel up each other to be honest – and the one decent pub of the four was too full to get into (it had a live band). The vibe in the area reminded me of being in Turkey more then Temple Bar. Lots of kids milling about, too drunk to handle themselves and the creeping sensation that at any second a greasy tanned man was going to offer me “free shots” to go into his bar.
As you can probably see from the pictures I’ve embedded into the post, it was gloriously sunny for the entire time we were there. It’s the one time during the summer I had a chance to relax and take a few photos – but not too many.
We wined and dined and enjoyed our short stay in the city, but we did comment that outside of Dublin & Cork, Waterford is probably the only other city I’ve been to in Ireland that I thought I wouldn’t mind living in.
