Betws-y-Coed

Betws-y-Coed ('Bettus-e-Coid' in German, meaning 'chapel in the forest') and the surrounding Snowdonia National Park are something special! Imagine: the North Sea, with a strip of the Eifel placed next to it, and behind it, a piece of the Scottish Highlands.

Of course, such comparisons don't go very far. What I found 'special':

Water: everywhere, from all sides. The next waterfall or rapids is never more than a stone's throw away. After the wild whirlpools, the water then has a special reflective depth that seems somehow mysterious and deceptive.

Dark stones: basalt and slate. The houses and walls (many walls, also many fences. The British are fans of fences) are made of them, in riverbeds, on slopes, boulders in meadows, steep slopes. Often a bizarre landscape.

Green: meadows, forests, huge cushions of moss, on trees, over stones, and on walls.

All together, it gives the impression that something magical could be everywhere: the dwelling place of a faun, the entrance to a fairy realm, or the setting of a legend!

Perhaps the magic of the landscape is also the reason why there are so many tourists here. Especially in Betws: lots of outdoor stores, restaurants, hotels... Traffic jams in the morning, leaving in the evening. No magic here...

Goodbye, Snowdonia!