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Llandudno
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.