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Tal y Fan and Conwy Bay seen from Llandudno, Wales ©
Watercolour by Ole Jacobi, July 1997
It was a relief to get off the main road at Llandudno where we took
a turn around. What a difference from Rhyl! Here was another holiday resort
situated about 20 miles away, and it was like another world. Lovely old
hotels all the way along the promenade, most of them very well kept up.
No fairy-wheels or anything like that, but instead a Punch-and-Judy show
and a Botanical Garden. The streets leading off the promenade were wide
and spacious with many nice old houses. Obviously Llandudno is a much older
resort, witness a small memorial to Lewis Carroll who visited Llandudno
in the company of Alice Liddell some years before he wrote "Alice in Wonderland".
Fortified by this experience we battled on to Conwy, a small fortified
town surrounded by Europe's most intact city wall and dominated by Conwy
Castle which was built by Edward I in 1285 to intimidate the Welsh. By
asking around a bit, we found a very nice B&B in a private house close
to the city wall. (£16 p.p.). There was just time for a look around
the castle, and to our great good fortune, we met the guide just locking
up his things prior to departing. He was game for another round, though,
when two American couples were interested too, and gave us a wonderful
performance, making the bare stone walls, imposing enough in themselves,
come alive for us.
Coming into Conwy, we had noticed an old ship in the harbour, a frigate
by the look of it. It was converted into a restaurant, and when we went
there to have a meal, we found out that the ship was originally a Norwegian
trawler which had been converted to look like a frigate. The food and the
atmosphere were good, though.