When it comes to 'Location, Location, Location', Swansea is streets ahead of other cities. It sits on the grand, sandy sweep of Swansea Bay - just a stone's throw from the shopping centre, there's the beach and Swansea Marina a dockland re-development that is still growing, with desirable apartments and leisure facilities. The continuing SA1 project, the stunning National Waterfront Museum, a £31 million slate and glass creation that symbolises the adventurous, go-ahead nature of this attractive city by the sea, and now, the LC, the city’s state of the art Leisure Centre – all linking straight into the vibrant city centre.
It's a friendly place too, a city on a human scale. You'll hear the Welsh
language spoken in the shops and on the streets. And in Swansea's famous
covered market - which sells everything from Gower cockles to welshcakes -
you'll have the best choice of fresh foods in Wales. Dylan Thomas, who wrote in
English but was suffused by the rhythms and cadences of the Welsh language, is
indelibly linked with his hometown, as you'll discover when you visit the Dylan
Thomas Centre and its spellbinding exhibition or various sites on the 'Dylan
Thomas Trail'.
Dylan's statue overlooks the Maritime Quarter. This revitalized area has become
something of a cultural quarter too - in addition to the new Waterfront Museum
and Dylan Thomas Centre there are spaces like the Mission Gallery which hosts a
challenging programme of contemporary visual art and craft and the nearby Attic
Gallery, which focuses on the work of artists in Wales. There's also a
fascinating 'Women in Jazz' archive, a collection comprising thousands of
audio/visual records, photographs, paintings and publications that tell the
story of jazz in Wales
Swansea's other asset lies along Swansea Bay. The Mumbles, a fashionable little
sailing centre complete with charming, traditional pier, is the gateway to the
19-mile-long Gower Peninsula, Britain's first 'Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty'. It lives up to this description every inch of the way, from the
sheltered sandy crescents scooped from its south coast to the mighty cliffs at
Rhossili and - as an atmospheric finale - the haunting, wildlife-rich burrows
and saltings of north Gower.
Different worlds collide in these parts. There was a time when the Neath and
Afan, valleys that funnel into Swansea, were swept up by Britain's Industrial
Revolution. But drive down the Vale of Neath today and you'll be hard pressed
to see any evidence of its industrial past. It's a glorious thoroughfare of
lakes, forests, waterfalls and an inland waterway, the 'flowing land of the
Vale of Neath . and in the heart of it the old (River) Nedd .leaping down to
the sea and the canal .a staggering needle of silver through the gold and green
down to Aberdulais.' (From
Song of the Earth by Alexander Cordell.)
Natural beauty has also returned to the Afan Valley, the steep-sided 'Little
Switzerland' in which actor Richard Burton grew up. One suspects that he would
have been amused to discover that his back yard - nowadays known as the Afan
Country Park - boasts world-class mountain bike trails that compare with those
in his second home in California.
Explore Swansea Bay in more detail at
www.visitswanseabay.com