WonderLlandudno

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In May of 2023, to celebrate my fortieth year and also my parents' anniversary, we travelled to England, Wales, and Ireland. This is the second segment of our trip, covering May 15th and 16th.

 

Welsh can be an intimidating language. The double-L makes a glottal 'ch' style sound. 'Llan' means parish, so "Llandudno" is basically St. Tudno's. Myth has it that Tudno was a son of a ruler whose kingdom was submerged by the bay. Whether or not that's true, there's no doubt that the town of Llandudno is in a gorgeous location. It is nestled along a crescent beach between two hills, with another beach on the far side of the isthmus. Victorians flocked there in droves, and it remains a popular spot with British tourists. Relatively few non-Brits visit, but we absolutely loved the "Blackpool of Wales".

 

 

 

British holidaymakers love themselves a good pier. Llandudno's pier was built in 1877, with an extension in 1884. In addition to housing several attractions, including a Ferris wheel, the pier offers splendid views toward the grand hotels fronting the seaside South Parade and also the Great Orme - The hill which towers over the town.

 

 

 

 

The Great Orme Tramway has been in operation since 1903. It travels to the top of the hill, in two segments with a transfer station in the middle. It's the only cable-hauled tram operating in the UK. The Great Orme is also home to the UK's longest toboggan run, though our weather was too splendid and summery to try that out! The Great Orme is roamed by Kashmiri goats, the descendants of a pair given to the landowner by Queen Victoria.

 

 

 

The view from the windswept hill is impressive. During the height of the Summer season there is a cable car that slings brightly-coloured gondolas up and down the hill. We were too early for that - I had timed the visit to hopefully combine decent weather and uncrowded conditions - my plan worked even better than I could have hoped! Regardless, I suspect I may have been too squeamish for the gondolas.

 

 

 

Wales certainly has won the branding lottery. The dragon is a national symbol, and they can be found everywhere, from the government logo on trash cans, to furniture displays, to cenotaphs. Each tourist shop seems to feature a large dragon . Each one is different and seems in it to outdo all the others. For a D&D player like me, it was an extremely smiley vacation!

 

 

Having been a go-to spot for nearly two centuries, it is no surprise that Llandudno has attracted visitors who turned into celebrities. One such visitor was a little girl named Alice, and a friend of her father's, Lewis Carroll. Perhaps it's no surprise that in the wonderland that is Llandudno, one can find sculptures of the characters from Alice's Adventures.

 

 

 

I'll close off this post with an evening look at the South Parade. It truly is a sight to see, with so many ornate hotels vying for spots, as if in some steampunk Copa Cabana. I can certainly see how many people spent their entire holiday in lovely Llandudno.

In the next segment of our trip, we visited an icon of Wales, Conwy Castle.