Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

 Until this year, the only places I had been to in the UK were Cambridge, Ely and London. So in order to change that, my friend and I decided to visit one of our friends at his home in Wales during Easter vacation. As usual for me, the journey started with a hassle. Not only was there a disruption on the service so we had to take replacement buses, which added another two hours to the journey, but also the first train was cancelled. Nonetheless, because of this we bumped into a random person on one of the replacement buses, who turned out to be one of the best friends of the friend we were visiting. We stayed near the city of Bangor in the northwest of Wales. For those who may not know, Wales is one of the countries comprising the United Kingdom. It is located in the west of Great Britain, its capital is Cardiff and its symbols are leek, daffodil (because they have similar Welsh names: cenhinen and cenhinen Bedr, respectively), red dragon and sheep. Bangor is one of the bigger cities in the area, yet the history is spread out across multiple cities, some of which I will mention now. Bangor and the village of Bethesda, which is where our friend lives, are linked to its history of mining slate. A few minutes by car away from the city, Penrhyn castle, a castle built by the owner of the slate quarry, can be found. Even though it is now part of the National Trust, some locals do not want to visit it because their ancestors had to work in the quarry. A view of of Bethesda near Bangor with the quarry in the backround Penrhyn castle
When the English conquered Wales in 13th century, Edward I built a series of castles in the area, remains of which can be nowadays visited and which are all part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Examples are Caernarfon, Conwy or Beaumaris.Conwy castle with the view of the city Another village of importance (at least for a tourist) is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the village with the longest name in the UK. The village with the longest name in the UK Finally, mountains form a substantial part of the landscape, with the highest peak of England and Wales, Snowdon, being located just a couple of kilometres away from all the towns. At the beginning I said that as usual the journey started with a hassle so now I have to add that, as usual, the journey ended up being awesome. We visited the beautiful landscape of Wales, which combines sea and mountains, visited a few cities, learnt a bit about history of Wales and got to hear some of the amazing stories of our hosting friend’s parents. So, in conclusion, I would like to thank my friend for taking care of us while in we were Wales, for another friend for being a great company and finally The Kellner Family Foundation for supporting me for another eventful year.