Aberystwyth is both a university town and an old Victorian seaside resort giving the town a strange mixture of foreign influences, yet it is still very much a Welsh town, at the centre of a region where Welsh is widely spoken.
Aberystwyth University and Cathedral
Like many Welsh towns, Edward I built a castle here in the 13th century to keep the Welsh in check but a century later it was taken over by Welsh rebel Owain Glyndwr. In later years the sleepy fishing town was remodelled for Victorian tourists. Aberystwyth’s gently curving bay is lined with a promenade of tall pastel-coloured Victorian terraces and a pier typical of beside-the-seaside locations. But unique to Aberystwyth is its vertiginous cliff railway built in 1896, onto the rugged slopes of Constitution Hill overlooking the town. On top of the hill is a Camera Obscura, which through half a ton of sophisticated optics, give an extraordinary panorama of the town in its fantastic coastal setting and mountain backdrop.
As home to the key institutions of the University of Wales and the National Library of Wales , established in 1872 and 1907 respectively, Aberystwyth is a centre for Welsh culture. The majority of people in the area, even the young, speak Welsh. The National Library is the largest in Wales with over 4.5 million books and is the leading research centre for Welsh and Celtic studies. The library houses a number of priceless medieval manuscripts including the Black Book of Carmarthen, the oldest surviving Welsh manuscript dating from the 12th Century, which depicts the exploits of celtic heroes like King Arthur and Merlin.
Aberystwyth is definitely worthy of a visit and has alot to offer to compliment its picturesque location and the multitude of wildlife that can be found around Mid-Wales and Cardigan Bay.