Savvy Sightseer - tips and insights for seasoned travelers!
The “Queen” of Welsh resorts
You can find sheep everywhere in northern Wales - they outnumber humans 5 to 1!
Wales's shoreside 13th century castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wales
Wales may be overshadowed by its Great Britain neighbors in size (it accounts for less than 10% of the UK’s overall land mass) and residents (only about 5% of the UK’s total population) – its flag is not even incorporated within the UK’s Union Jack flag (meanwhile, England’s, Scotland’s and Northern Ireland’s all are), Wales outstrips its counterparts in many other ways. For starters, it’s the only place in the United Kingdom to make the Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel Top Regions for 2017! And it has sheep of all colors – about 10 million, more than five times its human population.
It’s easy to know when you’ve crossed the border into Wales; street signs are twice their normal size since everything is written in both traditional Welsh and English. By governmental decree, Welsh is the official language of the land, and is a compulsory subject for all pupils up to the age of 16. Wales has bragging rights to the longest town name in all of Europe – go ahead and say it: Llanfairpwll-gwyngyllgogerychwyrndrob-wllllantysiliogogogoch! Conversely, according to the Guinness Book of Records, it also has the smallest house in Britain – only about 6 feet wide and 10 feet high! Its last resident was a striking 6’3” tall.
Yes, there is much about Wales that is distinctive and exceptional!
Snowdonia National Park
King Arthur's sword may lay at the bottom
This valley, nestled within towering peaks, is part of the so-called “Mach Loop. RAF and USAF fighter pilots practice maneuvers here, sometimes as low as 250 feet above ground.
On a clear day, Snowdonia provides visitors with ample sources of eye candy. A mecca for hikers, the mountain region offers serious climbers Wales’s highest peak – the 3,560’ Snowdon. For the less ambitious, the A5 winds through the region for a more leisurely look at the towering mountain peaks, valleys and lakes – and the stuff of legends. As stories have it, King Arthur spent some time in the area and somehow his famous sword, the magical Excalibur, landed up in Llyn (Lake) Ogwen; it has yet to be recovered.
Victorian Village
Dubbed the “Queen” of Welsh resorts, the pretty seaside town of Llandudno is the ultimate destination for a genteel, refined summer retreat. Visitors can follow in the footsteps of prim and proper Victorian women who didn’t dare bare their ankles for a dip in the water, but instead daintily promenaded under silky parasols the almost 2,300-foot-long promenade. The view of Wale’s longest pier hasn’t changed much since it opened in 1877, but the seascape beyond is decidedly different with a string of elegant-in-their-own-way wind farm turbines about 8 miles from the coast. One of the world’s largest such operations, the power producers went online in 2015, with the prediction they will provide electricity for up to a third of all Wales’ homes
Llandudno has possibly yet another claim to fame. While enjoying a summer sojourn at the beach, Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson) reportedly struck up a friendship with young Alice Liddell and found inspiration for the famed classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This version of the fantasy’s origin differs with a more popular belief it came about as the author rowed Alice and friends along the Thames in Oxford, England, but the Welsh here contend their version is correct and have peppered the town with Alice-themed statues. Tours guide visitors to spot them all.
A great limestone promontory, called the Great Orme (a Viking term meaning sea monster), juts out like a protective arm for Llandudno. Until 1987, it held a deep secret - buried within is the world’s largest Bronze Age mine. The copper mines were discovered during a landscaping project and represent one of the most unusual archaeological discoveries of recent times. The five-mile long, 230-foot deep mine dates back 4,000 years to the Bronze Age.
Click the photo group below to to expand the pictures for a better look.
In Victorian days, genteel women daintily promenaded the almost 2,300-foot-long pier. Beyond the 1877 walkway, lies an ultra modern wind farm.
This lovely park celebrates the work of its most famous summer visitors - Lewis Carroll - with characters from his equally famous story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Larger than life!
The imperious Queen stands tall in the town of Llandudno.
Likened to some as a serpent rising from the sea, buried within is the world’s largest Bronze Age mine.
Conwy Castle Town
One of Wales’ most prominent UNESCO World Heritage Sites is 13th century Conwy castle on the northwest coast. An imposing structure with more than 20 towers and mostly intact surrounding walls, Conwy castle achieved King Edward I’s goal in building it – to intimidate and control the Welsh. It is considered to be one of the finest examples of military architecture of the era. The castle walls, open free to walkers, are as suburb as the castle itself.
Conwy Bay is an inlet of the Irish Sea.
The imposing Conwy complex was a key part of King Edward I's ‘iron ring’ of castles used by the British monarch to cower and control the Welsh. Its circuit of walls, over three-quarters of a mile long, provide beautiful views!
Unusual Border Crossing
The dramatic Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is an engineering marvel and a World Heritage Site, the only one in the UK to straddle two countries. In 1805, architects Thomas Telford and William Jessop built Pontcysyllte’s cast iron aqueduct on 18 piers with 19 arches more than 100 feet above the River Dee, on the Welsh-English border. Mortar holding the structure together was made out of oxen blood, lime and water. Pontcysyllte is the highest navigable aqueduct ever built; it's recognized internationally as a “masterpiece of engineering.” While boats glide along the narrow passage, brave souls can walk across.
The World Heritage site is considered a “masterpiece of engineering.”
The span is 1,007 feet long and holds 1.5 million liters of water.
Pontcysyllte translates to “the bridge that connects.”
The River Dee passes by more than 100-feet below.
The many different trades groups who collaborated to build the mighty structure are represented in this monument.
Click picture grouping above for an expanded view.
Continue your trip through Great Britain with a visit to Scotland, The Outlander Effect or England or back to the Great Britain home page.
