Wales is a country that is part of the island of Great Britain. There are three countries that make up this island: Wales and our neighbors England and Scotland.
Wales is also part of the United Kingdom.
G E N E R A L D A T A :
Population: 3.1 million people. 4.8% of the UK population.
Location: Wales is located on the island of Great Britain, in the west of England.
Size: Wales is approximately 20,800 km2 in area.
Currency: British Pound
National symbols: the dragon, the daffodil and the leek are three of a series of national symbols.
National anthem: Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (Land of my fathers)
Government: Delegated government with a Prime Minister and an elected Cabinet meeting in the Senedd Building in Cardiff Bay.
Language: Welsh and English: Wales is a bilingual country.
Climate: The climate of Wales is mild and variable, with temperatures averaging around 20 °C (68 °F) in summer and 6 °C (43 °F) at low altitudes in the winter months.
Transportation and travel: Wales is well connected to the rest of the UK, Ireland and continental Europe via road, rail, sea and air.
Cardiff is approximately 2 hours from London by road or rail.
Education:
Education is compulsory and state-funded from 5 to 16 years of age, and is provided through Nursery, Primary, Middle, Secondary, Special and Welsh Language schools.
Around 172,000 students study at further education institutions in Wales each year.
There are 8 universities in Wales and around 25,000 international students from over 145 countries around the world are in higher education in Wales, representing 19% of the student population.
Universities in Wales offer a wide range of funding options to help students and free access to support in English is available at all universities in Wales.
Geography and climate:
Highest mountain: Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), Snowdonia National Park, at 1,085 m (3,560 ft).
The largest natural lake: Llyn Tegid, 6 km long.
Longer name: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch is the full name, meaning St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near the Swift Whirl and St Tysilio's Church near a Red Cave, and is often shortened to Llanfairpwll or Llanfairpwll PG.
National Parks: Wales has three national parks covering 20% of the country's land mass and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Religion : The statistics affirm that at least 70% of the Welsh people follow the Christian faith through the Presbyterian Church or through the Catholic religion. However, there is also a chapel belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church. This Church, in addition to being frequented, is also a tourist attraction and people who want to know it should go to the rural city of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is a small town that has no more than 4,830 people and is located in Gwynedd, northwest of Wales. .
Religion has always played an important role in Welsh culture. Protestantism, Anglicanism or Methodism are part of the history of Wales. Today, followers of Methodism still constitute a large religious group. The Anglican Church or the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church are also important. There are also smaller numbers of Jews and Muslims.
In general, religion and belief play a very important role in modern Welsh society, but the number of people regularly participating in religious activities dropped dramatically after the Second World War.
Pop Culture
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of the most popular and successful actresses in Wales. Starting out as a child actress, Catherine cemented her place in the American film industry with roles that heightened her sex appeal. She is the winner of several awards. Also a renowned humanitarian, she was named a CBE for her humanitarian and film efforts.
Gareth Bale
Charismatic Welsh footballer Gareth Frank Bale played for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur football club before joining Real Madrid in 2013 for a fee that surpassed Christiano Ronaldo's previous record fee. Known for his speed and precision, Gareth Bales is also the captain of the Wales national team and plays for Tottenham Hotspur, on loan from Real Madrid.
Anthony Hopkins
Renowned Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins is best known for his portrayal of a cannibalistic serial killer in the film The Silence of the Lambs. The interpretation earned him prestigious awards and also a place on the list of the best villains of all time. Other notable films from the celebrated character actor include What Remains of the Day, Nixon and Amistad.
Catfish And The Bottlemen
It is a rock band of Welsh origin. Van MacCann was born in Cheshire and spent time in Australia before moving back to Llandudno, North Wales, where he met the rest of the Bottlemen.
Politics
Politics in Wales (Welsh: Gwleidyddiaeth Cymru) forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Constitutionally, the United Kingdom is a unitary state with one sovereign parliament delegating power to the devolved national parliaments, with some executive powers divided between governments. Under a system of devolution adopted in the late 1990s three of the four countries of the United Kingdom, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, voted for limited self-government, subject to the ability of the UK Parliament in Westminster, nominally at will, to amend, change, broaden or abolish the national governmental systems. As such, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru) is not de jure sovereign. Since then, further Welsh devolution has granted the Senedd additional powers.
Executive power in the United Kingdom is vested in the King-in-Council, while legislative power is vested in the King-in-Parliament (the Crown and the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster in London). The Government of Wales Act 1998 established devolution in Wales, and certain executive and legislative powers have been constitutionally delegated to the Welsh Parliament. The scope of these powers was further widened by the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Sports
Rugby, one of Wales' favorite sports
Within the culture of a destination like Wales we can find something deeply rooted such as sport, an aspect that cannot be missing from the daily life of the Welsh people and that moves thousands of people to the many sporting events that are held throughout the year in this destination.
The most popular sport in Wales has always been football, but closely followed by rugby, something with which many people feel completely identified and consider it, above football, as the national sport.
In addition to football and rugby, many other sports such as cricket are practiced, as in other corners of the United Kingdom, one of the most deeply rooted sports traditions in all of this latitude. Another sport that has several international representatives is snooker, a variant of billiards that has many followers and practitioners.
There is no doubt that great athletes have come from this country, but nothing compared to the passion that many of them and sports arouse. It is very rare to go to a football or rugby field and see it without being crowded, or to go to a traditional pub on match day and enjoy the best atmosphere and the best matches accompanied by a lot of people and a great pint of beer.
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