NESTLED between Zimbabwe’s highest waterfall and the volcanic isles that make up Africa’s second-smallest country lies Bray . . . in Ireland.
Well, on Time Out magazine’s 2023 list of the world’s 14 most underrated travel destinations.
And it’s where I’m sipping tea, in the company of Oscar Wilde, overlooking the town’s Victorian seafront, 12 miles from Dublin.
My stop for the day was The Strand Hotel, built as a family home in 1870 by Sir William and Lady Jane Wilde and inherited by son Oscar in 1876.
Each of its ten rooms is named after one of the legendary playwright’s works.
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From here, turn left along the esplanade to the harbour and take your pick of cafes and bars.
Or go right for the hour-long hike up the 800ft Bray Head hill. At its rocky top is a concrete cross, and views across the Irish Sea.
Covered in yellow gorse flowers at the start of spring, it is a picturesque route, which seems typical of its location — County Wicklow on Ireland’s east coast.
Known as the Garden of Ireland, the county is home to mountains, waterfalls and lakes in its national park.
For a more strenuous trek, I tackle the six-mile route from Glendalough which translates as the valley of two lakes and starts, unsurprisingly, between two lakes.
This beautiful, peaceful setting inspired St Kevin to found a monastery here during the 6th century, and it is said he spent seven years in isolation in a cave by the upper lake.
I settled for the four-hour looped walk that takes you 1,300ft up a mountain, past a waterfall and along the ridge for views of the valley below. It’s worth the effort and was the highlight of my break.
I was visiting Ireland’s east coast — and the counties of Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow — on a five-day road trip as part of a Celtic Routes itinerary.
Celtic Routes is a tourism collaboration of those three counties, and three on Wales’ west coast, to inspire travellers to journey into the area’s deep past.
In the sea-port city of Waterford, that history is hugely influenced by the Vikings, who founded what is Ireland’s oldest city in the year 914.
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My walk of the Viking Triangle around the city’s original borders took in Reginald’s Tower — which dates to the 13th century when Prince John of England landed in Waterford and rebuilt the city’s defences.
Inside, you learn about the city’s 1,000-plus years and how the Vikings turned from feared raiders to settlers, marrying into the local community.
The city, my first stop after flying into Cork, is also famed for its crystal.
A visit to The House of Waterford Crystal — a mixture of factory, museum and shop — will immerse you in the skilled craft.
Another inescapable part of Ireland’s history is the English. Invasions by the Anglo-Normans from the 1200s onward led to big swathes of land being conquered and lorded over.
For the modern visitor, this means an abundance of castles and stately homes to visit, especially in Wexford.
I stay the night in Clonganny House, a Georgian country residence where the stables have been turned into gorgeous suites.
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On the coffee table of the fancy lounge in the main house lies a book entitled Country Houses of Wexford. Its pages are endless.
But for a more digestible overview of the area, a chat with Clonganny owners Karina and Kevin will guide you — and they sent me off along the coast for a bracing clifftop walk.
While on the coast, seafood is always tempting. At Clonganny it was steamed trout and coriander rice.
Earlier in the day was baked hake at The Lobster Pot in the south of the county.
It was there I also had the tastiest Guinness of my tour, which seems fitting as it is brewed using water from the Wicklow mountains.
Wicklow’s coast also has the world’s oldest operational lighthouse, at Hook Head.
It was built by a knight in 1230 and saw its last keeper stay until 1996, when it was automated.
That’s a long run — and a more successful project than the one attempted by Anglo-Irish landlord Arthur Keily-Ussher back in Waterford, who in the early 1800s tried to build a castle near Lismore.
If the Ballysaggartmore’s ornate gate towers are anything to go by, it would have been magnificent.
But folklore says their extravagance saw him run out of money and the rest was left unbuilt.
Still, they make for fairytale magic on a walk round the woods there.
Another ruin and walk to tick off is Tintern Abbey, not far from the lighthouse.
In fact, the list of walks, ruins, history and stately homes goes on and on in this region of Ireland, and you can explore from accommodation to suit all budgets.
At the high end, a stay in the Waterford Castle Hotel will see you board a car ferry for a five-minute crossing each time you want to leave or return to its 350-acre private island.
Less fancy, Oscar Wilde’s former home won’t break the bank.
He once said: “I can resist everything except temptation.” But you’d be hard pushed to resist this historic part of Ireland.
