While we’ve traveled to the United Kingdom several times, we’d never visited Wales. And while I knew Wales was part of the United Kingdom, or more officially, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, I knew little about the country. Wait, is Wales its own country? If so, how is Prince William the Prince of Wales? This is getting too complicated for someone from the United States to understand. It must be how people from the UK feel when visiting the US and traveling from New York City to Nashville.
Let me say that visiting Wales for the first time was an eye-opener. There were so many things I didn’t know. I got a preview of what I was getting into when I had to call my hotel to make a reservation and realized that the Welsh have their own language.
Here are just a few of the things I learned during my brief visit to Wales.
Wales isn’t very large
Wales is located to the west of England. It is approximately half the size of The Netherlands and around the same size as New Jersey. That’s not very big. While it’s surrounded by water to the west and England to the east, Wales has managed to keep its character, much like New Jersey, which is surrounded by an ocean, Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania.
The Welsh have their own language
While in Wales, I was surprised to see the number of people who spoke Welsh. Welsh is a Celtic language, like the Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic. Recent estimates suggest around 29% of the population in Wales aged 3 and over can speak Welsh. The number depends on where you are, as many of the locals where I visited spoke Welsh to each other. That’s way more people that speak any of the other Celtic languages.
Similar to when I visited other places that spoke a different language, it was fascinating, as someone who only speaks one language, to watch people switch effortlessly between languages.
Wales has many castles
Wales is nicknamed the “Castle Capital of the World” because it has more castles per square mile than any other area in the world.
On the way back to my train, my taxi driver took a detour to show me Castell Caernarfon. He said it would be a shame for me to visit Wales and not to see a castle.
Wales has more sheep than people
I have no proof of this, but my taxi driver told me this and I have also read it online. There are more sheep in Wales than people. I asked what the largest crop was in Wales, and he told me “sheep.”
Wales is incredibly beautiful
I wasn’t expecting Wales to be as beautiful as it was. From the coastal views on my train ride to the mountains on my ride to the hotel, it felt more like I was driving through Colorado for my ride than the western part of Wales.
Tom Jones is the Welsh Bruce Springsteen
While traveling in a taxi for an hour to get to my hotel, I heard two commercials featuring Tom Jones on the radio. It reminded me of the respect given to Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey. Bruce is considered a hometown hero who made it big but still remembers his roots. Similarly, Tom Jones is revered in a similar manner by his fellow Welsh as one of their own who achieved global success.
Everyone in Wales has visited Orlando
When I was in Wales, people would hear my American accent and immediately ask where I was from. Upon telling them I was from Florida, they would then ask where in Florida. When I mentioned Orlando, everyone had a story to tell about their own visit to Florida or their plans to visit. Whether it was the hotel clerk, restaurant server, taxi driver, gift shop owner or the guy working at the train station restaurant, they all knew about Orlando.
Some of the people I met were familiar with the various neighborhoods, and they even pointed out where their friends owned a condo or rented a villa. After some time, I found it amusing that I had crossed an ocean to arrive at the one place where everyone wanted to visit the city I had just left.
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