We had a late breakfast today, beginning at 9:00 in the restaurant. The host, a suave and glib young man from Montenegro (although he first claimed his accent placed him in Sligo,) was genial, flirtatious and brightly humorous. All service was to order, so we enjoyed eggs, sausage, bacon, juice and a serving of French toast. Coffee and tea finished the meal. Back in the rooms, we gathered ourselves for a quick rest and then left Faithlegg to explore the Waterford city area.
We drove into Waterford and found a car park at city center. Waterford City, founded in 914 AD by Vikings from Norway is Ireland’s oldest city. The name Waterford is actually from Old Norse meaning “ram fjord.” Waterford City is older than any capital of Europe, save Paris and London.
The city is famous for Waterford Crystal, a legacy of the city’s former glassmaking industry. The Waterford Crystal visitor’s center in the Viking Quarter was a must stop on our walk. Although we made no purchases, there were plenty of tourists who were buying. We sat on a bench in the plaza and plotted the balance of our afternoon. The debate was back and forth between the city of Wexford, or on to a garden in Tramore that Howie had discovered in a brochure. Due to our time constraints, we picked Tramore. this turned out to be a most serendipitous choice.
We found the Lafcadio Hearn Japanese Gardens captivating and amazing. Hearn, was born on the Greek Island of Lefkada in 1850. He was moved as a child to Dublin and eventually was abandoned, first by his mother, then by his father and finally by this father’s aunt, his guardian. He emigrated to the U.S. and ended with some relatives eventually in Cincinnati. He became a writer and journalist and was sent to Japan by Harper’s Magazine to write an article. He became enamored of the country, married a woman of Samurai descent and lived there to the end of his life, raising, with his wife, four children.
Although we have been to Japanese’s gardens before, including the one in Omaha at the Lauritzen Gardens, nothing we have seen is comparable to this small gem of a garden. It is a must see stop when in southeast Ireland. It is divided into 11 distinct gardens connected by lovely winding paths down and then back up the hillside. The gardens commemorate points in Hearn’s life, beginning with the walled Victorian garden and ending with the Journey’s End garden. In between are woodland gardens, a tea house for tea ceremonies, a summer pavilion, a Greek garden and more. Enchanting and restful.
We left Tramore, and headed back to our lodgings at Faithlegg Club, arriving home around 4:00 PM. All agreed that the Hearn Garden was a one of the highlights of our trip - unexpected pleasure and not a crowd of other tourists in sight. We rested and recouped for a while, meeting at 5:30 for a drink in the lounge before our 6:30 dinner reservation. We enjoyed a dirty martini, a cosmopolitan and a pair of Smithwick’s Ale.
Dinner was a pair of house made pasta with red sauce and prawns, a Rogan Josh Thai wrap, and a grilled ham and cheese on Irish loaf bread. This was preceded by one large side salad and three small bowls of mushroom soup. All washed down with a bottle of Montepulciano Abruzzo wine. A simple and delicious meal. After the meal, we walked a bit, touring parts of the grounds and watching the duffers whacking the small white ball over the green swards!
