"A Wales Away From Wales" - Trelew

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We had mentally prepared for a 20 hour bus journey to Trelew (pronounced Tre-le-ooh for some reason) so imagine our relief when it turned out to be ONLY 19 hours! We were glad to have paid the extra for cama seats as we got enough sleep to lead a normal life from the off.

Trelew was founded in 1865 when a group of Welsh settlers fled their homeland where they were not allowed to speak their own language freely. (We English really were terrible!) They were granted land in Patagonia and arrived at Puerto Madryn on June 12th before moving gradually westward.

There’s not a tremendous amount to see and do in Trelew itself, but we found some interesting sights. The museum is set in the old railway station. It houses a collection of artefacts about the early Welsh settlers as well as the building of the railways (built by the English - hurrah!). One of those first Welsh immigrants was John Murray Thomas, from Penybont-ar-Ogwr, the Welsh name for Bridgend where our house is. We thought it was great to see our tiny town mentioned!

Trelew is also famed for its Palaeontology museum but we didn’t go in. Instead we walked around the town and watched the birds on the lake. I wanted to go to the observatory, marked on our tourist maps, but when we got there it wasn’t yet finished! A vicious guard dog ensured that I couldn’t even peek through the windows!!

We also breakfasted (and later cerveza-ed) in the Hotel Touring Club. Once the grandest building in town, it’s now seen as quaint. The outside doesn’t look like much but inside it’s like a small museum. Famous people still stay here when passing through (following in the footsteps of the likes of Butch Cassidy) and as we sat drinking our beer, a tourist arrived looking very much like Agatha Christie. Yes, yes, I know she’s been dead for quite some time, but this woman was clearly a big fan!

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Photos

Wales Away From Wales
The Welsh flag flies (inside the museum).

Wales Away From Wales
They are very proud of being the first "Welsh" town in Patagonia

The man from Bridgend
John Murray Thomas, who are you?

The founder of the town
Mr Lewis himself

Village Pond
Notice the observatory, but no sign of the guard dog.

The Hotel Touring Club
Faded elegance and cheap beer!

The train station
One for Trish´s Dad!!

Malvinas Memorial
There´s always one of these in various shapes and forms.