Wales is on one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. No, I am not Welsh, I am English, so my judgement is not clouded by a bizarre nationalism. I have been to many different parts of Wales over the years and, like anywhere, there are good and bad areas, but overall, Wales is beautiful and well worth a visit.
When I was a child, we used to go on holiday to Barry Island in South Wales each Summer. It seemed a magical place to me and I still have very many happy memories of my time spent there. But when I went back there a few years ago, it had changed and was rather tacky and very cheap looking. So I wouldn't recommend a trip there these days, unless you are a big fan of places like Skegness. I'm a Lincolnshire lass, so I'm allowed to criticise Skeggy!
We go to Cardiff quite often, as it is only a hour and a half's drive from where we live. We saw The Phantom Menace at the cinema in Cardiff - unintentionally really, as we were heading for a Dr. Who event, which turned out to be cancelled, so we ended up at the cinema and saw the most popular film of the year, being some of the first to do so!
Cardiff is a great place to shop, with plenty of good bargains to be had. We usually visit the second-hand bookshops in the indoor market and the sci-fi shop, but the usual department stores are there too.
It is a university city and the buildings are very impressive, it has an air of sophistication somehow. Again, not all parts are like that, there are some rough areas, but it is definitely worth a visit.
The Cardiff International Arena is also another reason we have for visiting the city, as it is a very large concert venue, on a par with the NECin Birmingham and the MEN Arena in Manchester. We saw B*Witched at the CIA a couple of years ago.
I almost went to University in Swansea - ended up in Portsmouth as it turned out, but we stayed in Swansea in 1988 to get a feel for the place. The theatre and restaurants are great here. We stayed near the Wharf, which is quite posh. The only problem we had was that some of the locals only spoke Welsh and seemed rather anti-English at times.
I have friends in Hengoed and Maes-y-Cwmmer and have stayed with them before. Even though it did always seem to rain there, it is so beautiful, surrounded by undulating hills, wandering sheep and little streams and bridges.
But my favourite place in the country is Llangollen in North Wales. We have been there several times over the last few years, mainly to visit the Dr. Who Exhibition there, which is the world's largest, with exhibits covering over six thousand feet! You can see parts of an original Dalek, step inside a full-size TARDIS, remember all your favourite monsters as you see all the costumes and you can often meet the stars of the show here too during organised events. Besides the Dr. Who musuem, there is a model railway and toy factory in the same building.
Llangollen is just gorgeous anyway. It is quite small, but with plenty to do, including a steam railway, canal boat trips, great bookshops, lovely little cafes, nice hotels to stay in and lovely walks alongside the river.
Well, of course this is only a small taste of the wonderful country of Wales. I thought I would just like to share some of my experiences there and hope it will encourage some of you to travel to this country and see everything for yourselves.
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Advantages: This park is not representative of all Haven centres. Great for sheep and people who are on starvations diets. Disadvantages: How much time have you got?
anneliese 16.11.2000 (17.06.2001)
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Review of General: Wales
Mar 17th, 2001
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