more about Waterford

Towards the end of our holiday weekend in Carrick-on-Suir Brendan and I went to Tramore for the afternoon, and I snapped this photo (he's a teapot, see?) before my camera battery died. I wish I had gotten a shot of the ferris wheel, which we later rode for €3 each (and I think we only went around three times, but it was still worth it).

As you can see, Tramore is on the Waterford coast, eight miles south-west of Waterford City. I didn't write it up in the Moon guidebook because I was initially put off by the rather tacky seaside amusements--a large arcade and an amusement park with enough rides to keep the kiddies entertained the whole day through. Tramore feels like the Irish version of Coney Island. While you're on vacation, I thought, why go to a place that feels so much like an American carnival? You get enough hot dogs and spinning teacup rides at home, right? But that's exactly why I enjoyed myself so much, when I actually took the time to see Tramore properly. The sea views were lovely, and being able to look out over the ocean from the top of the ferris wheel made us a really nice memory. I have learned this lesson several times since publishing Moon Ireland: ultimately I'm not doing my readers any great service by making snap judgments. They might be missing out on something cool because I never took the time to investigate it in the first place. I may know Ireland pretty well, but there's so much I haven't seen or experienced yet. I'm looking forward to working on the second edition.