Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Favorites

Favorite thing: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Is it for real??? Yes. What's there? Not much. The main reason for visiting this little town is pretty much to visit this very spot in the photo because of its name... which actually means: "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid/fierce whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".

However, the record for the longest town/city name is actually Bangkok (!), as follows:

"Krungthepmahanakhon Amornrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharat Ratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit"

which means:

"The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated God, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn"...

I don't even see "Bangkok" anywhere...???

Fondest memory: Anyway... I remember asking around this little town for someone to say the whole name of the village.. only the lady behind the counter at the fish & chip shop managed it.. to most locals it's just "LLanfair" or "LLanfairpwll" or "LLanfair PG".

But I think there was some song created about it to teach you how to say the name easily... along the lines of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!" Also check out this link which even has recordings of celebs e.g. Sean Connery saying it (hmmm... maybe not) and you can even join a competition to win a t-shirt if you can say it too! http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/say.htm

Testimonials

1. This is what the BBC had to say abt this lil village:

"A local committee was put together to try and encourage trains, travellers and 19th Century tourists to stop at the village in order to help develop the village as a commercial and tourist centre. It is believed that the name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch was invented by a cobbler from Menai Bridge; little did he know that he had implemented one of the most successful tourist marketing plans of all time."

I don't know about that.

2. From local villager Maurice Deebank:

"...Llanfair has lovely views of the mountains and a number of interesting pubs varying in their traditional North Welsh unfriendliness, it also has the Marquis of Anglesey's column errected for the eponymous second in command at Waterloo, his house at Plas Newydd down by the Straits and a groovy burial chamber at Bryn Celli Ddu."

So there you go! Ok, i've milked about all there is worth about this place. I'm off now.