The Rough Guide to Wales (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

Description

The Rough Guide to Wales

Make the most of your time on Earth with the ultimate travel guides.

Discover Wales with this comprehensive and entertaining travel guide, packed with practical information and honest recommendations by our independent experts. Whether you plan to hike through the wilds of Snowdonia, follow in Wordsworth's footsteps at Tintern Abbey or explore Welsh music and theatre in Swansea, The Rough Guide to Wales will show you the ideal places to sleep, eat, drink and shop along the way.

Features of this travel guide to Wales:
- Detailed regional coverage: provides practical information for every kind of trip, from off-the-beaten-track adventures to chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas
- Honest and independent reviews: written with Rough Guides' trademark blend of humour, honesty and expertise, our writers will help you make the most from your trip to Wales
- Meticulous mapping: practical full-colour maps, with clearly numbered, colour-coded keys. Find your way around the arcades of central Cardiff or the peaks of Brecon Beacons National Park without needing to get online
- Fabulous full-colour photography: features inspirational colour photography
- Time-saving itineraries: carefully planned routes will help inspire and inform your on-the-road experiences
- Things not to miss: Rough Guides' rundown of the best sights and top experiences
- Travel tips and info: packed with essential pre-departure information including getting around, accommodation, food and drink, health, the media, festivals, sports and outdoor activities, culture and etiquette, shopping and more
- Background information: comprehensive 'Contexts' chapter provides fascinating insights into Wales with coverage of history, religion, ethnic groups, environment, wildlife and books, plus a handy language section and glossary

- Covers: Cardiff, Swansea and the southeast; the southwest; the Brecon Beacons and Powys; the Cambrian coast; the Dee Valley; Snowdonia and the Llyn; the north coast and Anglesey. Attractions include: Cardiff Bay; St David's Cathedral; Pembrokeshire National Park; Conwy Castle; Cadair Idris; Ffestiniog Railway; Hay Festival; the beaches of the Llyn and Gower peninsulas.

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About Rough Guides: Rough Guides have been inspiring travellers for over 35 years, with over 30 million copies sold globally. Synonymous with practical travel tips, quality writing and a trustworthy 'tell it like it is' ethos, the Rough Guides list includes more than 260 travel guides to 120+ destinations, gift-books and phrasebooks.

Sujets

• Special Interest
• Points of Interest
• Museums
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Parque Nacional Snowdonia
• Interest group (disambiguation)
• Isle of Anglesey
• Llyn
• Point of interest
• South Wales
• Travel
• Museum
• Great Britain
• North Wales
• Adventure
• Snowdonia
• Powys
• Anglesey
• Wales
• Swansea
• Cardiff
• Tours
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789197327
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Contents
Introduction to Wales
W here to go
W hen to go
A uthor picks
t hings not to miss
I tineraries
Basics
G etting there
G etting around
A ccommodation
F ood and drink
T he media
F estivals and events
S ports and outdoor activities
A lternative, New Age and green Wales
T ravel essentials
Cardiff and southeast Wales
C ardiff and around
W ye Valley
M id-Monmouthshire
N ewport and around
V ale of Glamorgan
T he Valleys
S wansea
G ower
Southwest Wales
L lanelli and around
C armarthen and around
T ywi Valley
S outhern Carmarthenshire
N arberth and the Landsker Borderlands
S outh Pembrokeshire coast
M id-Pembrokeshire
S t Bride’s Bay
N orth Pembrokeshire coast
M ynydd Preseli
The Brecon Beacons and Powys
B recon Beacons National Park
T he Wells towns
N orth and east Radnorshire
M ontgomeryshire
The Cambrian coast
F rom Cardigan to Aberaeron
T eifi Valley
A berystwyth and around
V ales of Rheidol and Ystwyth
N orth from Aberystwyth
S outhern Cadair Idris and the Dyfi and Talyllyn valleys
N orthern Cadair Idris and the Mawddach estuary
A rdudwy
The Dee Valley and around
W rexham
C hirk and around
T he Dee Valley
M old and the Vale of Clwyd
Snowdonia and the Llŷn
S nowdonia
T he Llŷn
The north coast and Anglesey
H olywell and around
R hyl and around
S t Asaph and around
C olwyn Bay and around
L landudno
C onwy
A round Conwy
B angor
A nglesey
Contexts
H istory
M odern Welsh nationalism
N atural history of Wales
M usic in Wales
F ilm
B ooks
W elsh
Small Print
M ap symbols
R ough Guide Credits
P ublishing information
H elp us update
A cknowledgements
A bout the authors


Introduction to Wales

Wales, a small country on the rocky fringe of western Europe, punches well above its weight when it comes to looks, attractions and visitor appeal. Barack Obama praised its “extraordinary beauty, wonderful people and great hospitality”, while National Geographic magazine named Pembrokeshire the world’s second-best coastal destination, and its coastal path second among the world’s top ten long-distance paths. This is a country that remains utterly authentic, and while it’s happy to keep up with the best new trends – you can witness an ever more sophisticated hotel scene and a raft of gourmet restaurants displaying real culinary creativity – Wales always stays true to itself.
It’s not all about the landscapes , either: the solid little market towns and ancient castles reward repeated visits as much as the stirring mountains, gorgeous valleys and rugged coastline. The culture , too, is compelling, whether Welsh- or English-language, Celtic or industrial, ancient or coolly contemporary. Even its low-key profile serves it well: while the tourist pound has reduced parts of Ireland and Scotland to Celtic pastiche, Wales remains gritty enough to be authentic, and diverse enough to remain endlessly fascinating.
Recent years have seen a huge and dizzying upsurge in Welsh self-confidence , a commodity no longer so dependent on comparison with its big and powerful neighbour England. Popular culture – especially music and film – has contributed to this, as did the creation of the National Assembly in 1999, the first all-Wales tier of government for six hundred years. After centuries of subjugation, the national spirit is undergoing a remarkable renaissance. The ancient symbol of the country, y ddraig goch or the red dragon , seen fluttering on flags everywhere you go, is waking up from what seems like a very long slumber.
As soon as you cross the border from England, the differences in appearance, attitude and culture between the two countries are obvious. Wales shares many physical and emotional similarities with the other Celtic lands – Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany in France, and Asturias and Galicia in northwest Spain. A rocky and mountainous landscape in hues of predominantly grey and green, a thinly scattered, largely rural population, a culture rooted deeply in folklore and legend, and the survival of a distinct, ancient language are all hallmarks of Wales and its sister countries. To visitors, it is the Welsh language , the strongest survivor of the Celtic tongues, that most obviously marks out the country, with tongue-twisting village names and bilingual signposts making a strong cultural statement. Everyone in Wales speaks English, but a 2016 government survey found that twenty percent of the population were also fluent in Welsh, that number rising to 25 percent for 16- to 25-year-olds. TV and radio stations broadcast in Welsh, the language is taught in schools and restaurant menus are increasingly bilingual. As a visitor, any attempts to speak at least a fragment of the rich, earthy tones of one of Europe’s oldest living languages will be warmly received.






FACT FILE With an area of 8000 square miles (20,800 square km), Wales is less than a sixth the size of England and a little larger than the American state of New Jersey. While Wales is part of the United Kingdom, it also has its own devolved Welsh Government which is responsible for certain local affairs. The population of Wales totals just over three million, sixty percent of whom live in the southeastern corner of the country. One quarter of the population was born outside the country, the vast majority being migrants from England. Cardiff, the capital city, has a population of 358,000. As well as having the second-longest place name in the world, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery­chwy­rndrobwllllantysi­liogogogoch was used in the cult 1968 sci-fi movie Barbarella starring Jane Fonda – it’s the password to enter a secret resistance headquarters. Lawn tennis has its roots in Wales. Apparently, one Major Walter Clopton Wingfield was playing with a new-fangled India rubber ball in the gardens of Nantclwyd Hall near Ruthin in 1873. It bounced on grass, the major had a lightbulb moment and in 1874 patented the rules of a game he called “sphairistrike”, ancient Greek for “the art of playing ball”.




Sunset at Dunraven Bay on the south coast of Wales
Shutterstock
Despite seven hundred years under the yoke of its far larger neighbour and the growing strength of independence party Plaid Cymru, few Welsh nationalists call for a total split from England. Nevertheless, it causes great offence when the distinct nationality of Wales is blatantly disregarded or patronized. As a visitor you should avoid referring to England when you really mean Britain or the United Kingdom, and never say English when you mean Welsh: it is like calling a Kiwi an Aussie or a Canadian an American.
Although it is the wealth of prehistoric sites, crumbling castles and wild landscapes that draws visitors here in the first place, many people leave championing contemporary Wales . The cities and university towns are buzzing with an understated youthful confidence and sense of cultural optimism, while a generation or two of urban escapees has brought a curious cosmopolitanism to the small market towns of mid-Wales and the west. Although conservative and traditional forces still sporadically clash with these more liberal and anarchic strands of thought, there’s an unquestionable feeling that Wales is big enough, both physically and emotionally, to embrace a number of diverse influences. Perhaps most importantly, Welsh culture is underpinned by an iconoclastic democracy that contrasts starkly with the establishment-obsessed class divisions of England. The Welsh character is famously endowed with a musicality , lyricism, introspection and sentimentality that produces far better bards and singers than it does lords and masters. And Welsh culture is undeniably inclusive: anything from a sing-song in the pub to the grandiose theatricality of an eisteddfod involves everyone – including any visitor eager to learn and join in.


Prehistoric and legendary Wales
Whether walking through a dew-soaked field to some mysteriously inscribed standing stone , or catching the afternoon sun as it illuminates the entrance to a cliff-top burial chamber , exploring Wales’ prehistoric sites is thoroughly rewarding. At all but a few of the most popular, the bleating of sheep will be the only sound to break the contemplative silence of these spiritual places.
Prehistoric sites litter the country. Hut circles defensively set atop windswept hills attest to a rugged hand-to-mouth pre-Celtic existence dating back four or five thousand years, while stone circles, intricately carved monoliths and finely balanced capstones set at crucial points on ancient pathways suggest the more spiritual life led by the priestly druids. Britain’s greatest druidic centre was Anglesey, and the island is still home to many of Wales’ best prehistoric sites, including the splendid chambers of Barclodiad y Gawres and Bryn Celli Ddu. Elsewhere, numerous standing stones and circles can be found on the mysterious slopes of the Mynydd Preseli in Pembrokeshire and in the area around Harlech in north Wales. Many sites take their names from great figures in Celtic history and folklore, such as Arthur and Merlin (Myrddin in Welsh); legends abound to connect m