Why Wales
There is a particular light in Wales. The light that filters between two showers on the ridges of Snowdon, that makes the walls of Conwy shine like wet silver, that transforms the cliffs of Pembrokeshire into settings of Arthurian legend. This changing, capricious, always dramatic light is perhaps what most profoundly distinguishes this Celtic nation from the rest of the British Isles.
Wales accumulates discreet superlatives: more castles per square kilometre than any other country in the world, a language spoken since the sixth century and still alive in the villages of the North, national parks that rub shoulders with cities less than an hour away by train. Cardiff, the capital, is one of the youngest and most dynamic in Europe. Yet, a 45-minute drive away, the Brecon Beacons offer no artificial light at night, classified as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
What strikes travellers who take the time to linger is the density of experiences in a compact territory. In eight days, you can climb to the top of Snowdon on a century-old steam train, walk the intact ramparts of a 13th-century medieval city, swim in a secret cove that can only be reached by a coastal path, and hear bilingual announcements in Welsh and English at every station you pass through. Wales is a geographical and cultural curiosity that Western Europe still neglects, wrongly.
