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Show _____TheSalt Lake TribuneTRAVEL Sunday, September 7, 1997 Poet Wouldn't Know the Place FR BYBARRYZWICK LOS ANGELESTIMES SWANSEA, Wales — Dylan Thomas, the flamboyant poet and playwright who was born and raised here, called it “an ugly, lovely town.” And so it was: an uglyport city of sprawling, squal- id brown dockyards, a lovely city ringed with hills, wrapped around a sparkling blue-gray bay The dockyards are gone now. Whereonce“the smokeofthe tin- plate stacks” fouled the air and seared the lungs,a bustling marinastands,filled with sidewalk cafes and winebars In Dylan ThomasSquarein the heart of the marina, the apple- cheeked children of weekendsail- ors clamber merrily over the poet’s statue. This once-grimy port has become Swinging Swansea, the heart of the Welsh Riviera. My wife and I arrived in Swansea on a Saturdaynight last August after a three-hour train ride from London. We werecarrying Thomas’ Collected Letters, and we wereutterly, utterly clueless. We decided to have dinner on Wind Where to Stay: Swansea Marriott, Maritime Quarter, closed Sundays. Eleo’s Brasserie (32/33 Kingsway, tel. 648609) is a bodega much like La Braseria, but less crowded and open Sundays; dinner for Swansea, West Glamorgan, South Wales SA1 355; in August high season last year, we paid $114 for our double room David's Shopping Centre; tel 467113) offers French and 011-44-1792-642020, fax 01144-1792-642020. ner for two, $50 with wine. MoreInformation:British tel. (800) 462-2748 or (212) 986-2200, fax (212) 986-1188. himself had to tell his teachers bicyclists and another for walkers and runners, a perfect spot for our morning walk. The locals were law-abiding. No bicyclists how to pronounce it. Just before weleft for Europe, we saw signs that the cult was alive and well strayedinto the walking path. Bill Pullman, playing the Ameri- But where was the Mermaid Bar, where Dylan Thomas learned to drink at 16? “Burned can president in ‘Independence down just this year,”’ a jolly wom- found, expecting to find morbidly drunk Welshmeninside, musing about death andspitting up blood. A crushofbodies trappedus at In the morning, we walked to Dylan Thomas Squarein the heart of Swansea's sparkling marina. Little girls were climbing over the statue of the poet looking much are we? Jewels and cleavage and more cherubic thanhedidin life. Yachtsmen were swabbing their decks. Under Martini & Ros- people drinking white wine? This was no pub, it was a bodega, with si umbrellas, young women in pastel dresses and chic shoes were drinking cups of espresso with earnest-looking young men in black wrought ironwork cradling wooden crates of wine. Heads tweedsuits. turned toward us, blue eyes star- Dylan Thomas wouldn't recognize the festive-looking square in,g. an at The MumblesTourist Information Centre told us. Therest of the MumblesMile, as the strip of bars and fish mongeries beyond the promenade from Swansea is poem. bronzed bodies and hundreds of dark wood-beamed ceilings and Tourist Authority, 551 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10176; can newborns were named Dylan, a name that was previously rare even in Wales. Dylan Thomas have smuts in my eye on Wind . Hello, where room, with a piano player; din- grilled to order; dinner for quietly into that good night,” slightly mangling a Dylan Thomas the entry and. Chinese cuisine in a beautiful Whereto Eat: La Braseria (28 WindSt.; localtel. 469683) specializes in meat and fish Day,” told the world, “Do not go Street.” We opened the door to La Braseria, the first pub we two, $50 with wine. Rendezvous (Princess Way near St with king bed and view of the marina; tel. (890) 228-9290, Street, for example, because Thomas once wrote, “I want to two about $40 with wine; IF YOU GO (TRAVEL particular about who performed FREE Golf covered market where they sell cockles and black seaweed, we found the Potter's Wheel Free House. Posted on the walls were photographs of Old Swansea, not looking a 10th as good as the New Swansea. At least 200 people were drinking there, manyat the 40-foot bar. Four bartenders were on duty. Quite sure that I duced us to the maitre d’, Mau- decided on a mix of commercial rice. and residential rebuilding for a new marina, which was finished in ing wines from six countries. In the morning, we took the their boats that day. Maurice to the marina. We ed there, Later that morning, we re- foundus andsentus overto dis- solved to see the real Wales. We play case filled with beautiful were going to walk to The Mumbles, a Victorian village described this way by Thomas: “A tune on an ice-cream cornet. A slap of sea cuts of beef and lamb as well as fresh prawns, bream, salmon, mullet, haddock, halibut, hake andlobster,all on a bed ofice and and tickle of sand. A fanfare of priced by the pound. We picked sunshades opening. A wince and whinny of bathers dancing into deceptive water.” The tram that Thomas took outa sea bass anda rack of lamb, to be grilled by a team of chefs. Wehelpedourselvesto a seafood and salad bar, drank a lot more wine and ate a whole loaf of French bread. By the time we left at midnight, we had a pocket full of phone numbers, and we were as happyas clams. Well, except for the fact that had found an authentic warmbeer establishmentatlast, I asked handed mea long wine menu,list- train to Carmarthen. The tracks ran beside the gently curving shore of Carmarthen Bay. It was a one-car train, a one- hour roorning milk run. The older male passengers quietly sipped tea and read the rugby pages, said. “I want to videotape you Onthe bus, passengers greeted arne, with a population of 400,” he wrote in a letter, “has a town hall, a castle and a portreeve (an archaic word for mayor). The people speak with a broad English accent, although on all sides they are surrounded by hundreds of miles of Welsh country.” On the path to the main Boat House wepaused bythe converted bicycle shed where Thomas wrote “Under Milk Wood,” critically acclaimed play in its day, shown on American television with Richard Burton in the lead. The play made fun of the peculiar residents of a peculiar town, and everyone believed it was Laugh: arne. The shed was a dilapidated orn River estuary was spectacular. UALR CTeMerit FOR INFORMATION AND RESERVATIONS. www.tetonpines.com 3450 NORTH CLUBHOUSE DRIVE BRANSON 8 celebrity shows “ORLANDO. 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Wehad been fans of Dylan Thom- $496 ROME $72: $461 TEL AVIV $862 Now, Dylan Thomas was very shack, but the view of the Taff our mission was unaccomplished. ‘ALL FOR MORE DESTINATIONS} om ban ny ayy ne osOn Or waves break loud onthe sea shores. Whereblew a flower may be a flower no more Lift its head to the blows of the rain with the Boat House in the background.” one of the bartendersif by any chance they served wine. She andthe view wasspectacular ears to show us where to get off in Laugharne. Thomas called Laugharne “the strangest town in Wales. Laugh- years after the war, city planners one, it seemed, had been out on 40 visitors. One of the Japanese women cornered me on theterrace, openeda volume of Thomas’ poems and pointed to one. “I would like you to recite this,” she each other cheerily and promised Mainwaring,shaking my hand. He built at one of several entrances water, was crowded with at least whereheis buried. led us up the stairs and intro- from oversized glasses of chilled French white burgundy. Every- The Boat House, four rooms and a huge terrace high above the with more pubs cheek by jowl that bears his name. In 1944, Nazis bombed Swansea's dock lands and left them in ruins. When southern Wales boomed in the 1981. The Swansea Marriott was eotaping the countryside. At Carmarthen’s railway station, villagers speaking in musical Welsh accents led us to the bus for Laugharne (pronounced LARN), where Dylan Thomas spent his last four years and called, was alive and thriving, than we had ever seen. Across from the downtown Swanseabusstation, near the old “Too bloody crowded down here,” said a big, grinning teddy bear of a regular named Peter We milled around with the crowd for a few minutes, sipping Los Angeles T Children play on statue of Welch poet Dylan Thomasin Dylan Thomas Square in Swansea. from one windowto another,vid- Teton Pines ) ~~” You love our resort for our golf HY us for winter, too. Also, the F158 nightmare for a tew days we ane close by! Call now for your early booking |
