Caernarfon:
Today Caernarfon is a pleasant semi-rural town bustling with tourists and is the administrative capital of Gwynedd. The town owes its existence however to the fact that the magnificent castle built there by Edward 1st was meant to be a permanent symbol of the conquest of theWelsh by the English in 1283.

Today however, even though the granite turrets still bully the Caernarfon skyline the town has lost none of its Welsh character and the majority language is by far the native one. Caernarfon's historic significance has turned it into a major centre for tourism in north Wales. Although the medieval castle is the main attraction, the town's military roots go back much further. The Romans built a fort here known as Segontium in about AD78, and the excavated ruins are open to the public together with a museum displaying some of the many interesting finds discovered on the site.

But most visitors to the town first explore the castle and its immediate surroundings. The main shopping streets wind their way around sturdy 13th century town walls, a further mark of Edward 1st's conquest and control, for the king founded a complete medieval township here also. A busy Saturday market takes place on Y Maes on the castle's front doorstep. On this same square tradition has it that Edward presented his son as the Prince of Wales to the people (a title carried by 22 heirs to the British throne ever since) ; stands a statue to David Lloyd George the local borough MP who became Prime Minister during the First World War.

The investiture of the current Prince of Wales, Prince Charles took place in 1969 and an exhibition in the castle's north tower traces the history of the honorary title back to its last native holder, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd - Llywelyn the Last. In the castle also is the marvellous museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, Wales' oldest regiment. From the top of the tower you can survey Anglesey and the broad sweep of the Menai to the north and the dramatic backdrop of Snowdonia to the south.

In Cwrt Llywelyn there is an exemplary example of local urban planning melding modern government buildings with medieval ones - a striking slate and steel sculpture also stands to commemorate Welsh independence. The town is also the terminus for the Welsh Highland Railway and proposed plans for the rebuilding of the railway will see it running 25 miles through some of the most scenic routes in the world to Porthmadog in a few years time.