Andy & Shola Go To Conwy, Wales!

At the start of April we decided to take a day trip to Wales as Shola hadn't been there before. Conwy was recommended so off we went to see the Castle.

Conwy has a population of around 4000 people and is situated in North West Wales about 2 1/2 hours drive away from Littleborough. We decided to take the scenic route sticking with the coastal road rather going on the faster A55. This took us through Flint, Rhyl and Colwyn Bay. It was a nice sunny day but the journey took us slightly longer than expected and we didn't arrive until 1-30 having set off around 10am.

Driving into Conwy you get the best view of the castle and it is from the far side of the river Conwy that you should take any photos. Parking was well signed and reasonably priced - especially for us since someone gave us a ticket with three hours remaining on it! From the car park the best way to the main square is through the subway and not up the steps and through the train station as we went :-)

First things first we needed something to eat so we had a quick wander around the town which is pretty small. There are a few places to eat: The Towers restaurant, Alfredos on the square and the Castle Hotel are mentioned in the guide book along with several pubs. As well as this are the usual fish and chip shops. We settled for a quiet-looking place called Llewelyn's Restaurant. It is in a room upstairs, entered through a quiet doorway about three quarters of the way down High Street (heading towards the sea).

The restaurant is decorated in a medieval style which obviously fake. The food was OK but the service was excellent - a fact supported by the number of people who were obviously returning for at least their second visit.

Once we had eaten it was time to get exploring. There were four targets we chose from the guide book. Obviously the castle was one, Aberconwy House was a second, the third was a walk around the walls and the other was to see the Smallest house in Britain.

We chose Aberconwy house first. This is a 14th century timber and plaster house which has been restored by the National Trust. The rooms are done up to represent different periods from its history. We had our own viewing of a video which gave a potted history of Conwy not just the house. The house is open daily except tuesdays, April through October so we only just managed to catch it open. The video turned out to be the highlight really even though it is the oldest building in Conwy apart from the castle.

On our way to the Castle we walked along the city walls - apparently it is "one of the best examples of a medieval walled town in Europe". The walls are virtually intact which is why this was probably written.

Conwy castle is one of Edward I's and "a medieval masterpiece" it was getting on for four pounds to get in but you can't go to Conwy and not have a walk around the castle. It has several towers which you can climb and from the top you get great views over the town as you can see from the pictures shown here.

The Smallest House is clearly something of a touristy gimmick and not worth going in but still we had to see it since we were there!

By now it was getting to be early evening so we started to head off home. First though we stopped off in Rhyl and took a stroll along the sea front. I imagine it gets very busy during summer but it was great for us catching it on one of the first sunny days of the year.

The journey back was much quicker and I even managed to get home in time to hear Sting in concert on the radio! All in all a great day! :-)