Weekend in Wales

I promise that in the next couple of days I'll be getting back to some DIY projects, but Dan and I are trying to squeeze in as many trips as possible while we're here and while the weather is nice. We took advantage of the long Labor Day weekend to go on a last-minute trip to Wales.

LLandudno, Wales

Wales was never a top destination for me, mostly because I didn't know a lot about it. I can't believe that we waited a whole year to go there. It was amazing, and only a few hours drive away!

Along with our friends Katie and Jon, we drove to Wales on Saturday morning. Our first stop was Conwy. We heard from several other friends that the town is adorable and the castle is worth visiting. They were right. Conwy is a walled market town that is on the north coast of Wales. The walls were built in the 1200s and are still in tact!

Conwy Castle

My favorite part of the castle was climbing the ramparts.

Photo courtesy of Katie

The town was adorable too. We stumbled upon a Celtic faire and saw Great Britain's  smallest house.

We stayed in the sea town of Llandudno, which of course is pronounced "Clan-did-no." As one woman told us, Welsh is so easy because it's phonetic. Yeah right!

After several hours in Conwy, we headed to our B&B in Llandudno. Plas Lloyd was lovely and perfectly situated in town. We had a nice pub dinner and walked the boardwalk a bit before turning in for the night.

We really wanted to make the most of our time in Wales, so we headed out early on Sunday to Caernarfon Castle. This is the castle where Prince Charles became the Duke of Wales in 1969. 

Caernarfon Castle

This castle was enormous. I liked Conwy better because we were able to access more parts of it, but Caernarfon has a great history and is still worth a visit. We probably could have spent a couple more hours here, but we had things to do...like drive through Snowdonia.

Snowdonia National Park

Snowdonia this time of year is extra amazing because all the heather turns from brown to purple. It really lights up the mountains.

Llandudno was no slacker though. We took the scenic drive just in time to catch a breath-taking sunset.

Llandudno, Wales

We also got to meet this guy. Isn't he amazing?

We spent our last day in Wales exploring Lladudno and the Great Ormes Head. We took a tram up to the top, and took a cable car down. The tram is one of only three cable-pulled systems left in the world: San Francisco, CA; Lisbon, Portugal; and Llandudno, Wales.

Great Orme Tramway

Photo courtesy of Katie

I don't know what took us so long to go to Wales, but I'm happy we made it!