Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest place name for a town in Britain. It’s in Wales and translates as “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cav
Your pronouncements
Enjoyed Tim Roxborogh’s article on mispronunciation of placenames
Ironically, your feature on Meteora provides a perfect example of this.
While travelling through Greece last year, we received many curious looks when asking about Mee-tee-OR-ra, while they would rave about Meh-TAY-or-ra.
And of course there’s an never-ending issue of “Los Vegas”.
Glenn Clark
Re: mispronouncing placenames: My biggest bugbear is “Los Vegas! Please ladies and gents of TVNZ and RNZ it is Las Vegas. Yes — LAS, LAS, LAS. Okay so I am not so good at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, but I can tell a Las from a Los. Cheers,
Deirdre Kerr
The Travel Editor replies: Don’t worry, readers — Deirdre hasn’t fallen over on her keyboard. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, in Wales, is the longest name for a town in Britain. It translates as “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cave”.
Try Belarus
Do you want somewhere civilised but out of the tourist “must see” area? Minimal entry procedures? Try Belarus.
It is a landlocked country between Germany and Russia, but is on the direct route from Germany to Moscow. Consequently, it was essentially flattened in WWII by the German army racing towards Moscow, and the Red Army throwing them out again. Rebuilding has been steady rather than spectacular, with solid, foreboding Stalinist alongside modern glass. Rarely is a building dated before the 1950s. Those of a historical bent will therefore be disappointed. What you do get in Belarus is a sense of tranquility in their large parks and walkways, and the less-than-frenetic pace of life. English is not widely spoken, but Russian is the second national language, so take a Russian phrasebook with you. Belarus has a bit of a reputation for being a police state. If so, the police are extremely discreet as we hardly ever saw them. We were never hassled.
Entry for New Zealanders is visa-free for 30 days provided that you enter and depart through the Minsk National Airport. Medical insurance is compulsory for all visitors, and you will be asked for proof at passport control.
Visitors are required to register with the local authorities their address in Belarus. Hotels are required by law to do this for you, but, if you are not using hotels you have to do it yourself.
Internal travel is cheap and regular. Buses, trams, and minibuses ply almost every part of the cities and minibuses go out into the country as well as trains.
We used the trains for inter-city travel. As most train trips from Minsk are in the three-to-four hour bracket, we travelled Plaskart (hard) class with the locals.
Four-berth cabins are usually available. For a 250km trip, I paid $3.75 a head.
Maccas and KFC are in central Minsk, but fast food is
absent everywhere else. Go local, it is quite edible. There are some very good but inexpensive restaurants to be found. Get local advice. The best that we found was on the fourth floor of the shopping centre above the central bus station in Minsk. A very good birthday celebration meal for four set me back about $100.
That was the only place that we found that had an English translation on the menu.
Gary Kendall
Rothesay Bay
Who checks the checkers?
I read the Letters to the Editor every week and also the Flight Checks. However, I do find it strange that I’ve never seen published a direct flight from Whangarei to Tauranga. Is this because said flight is a non-event or because is it too expensive?
Would like to hear your knowledge and thoughts on this please.
Thanking you, regards,
Tony Lawson,
One Tree Point, Northland
The Travel Editor replies: Neither. We’ve simply not had anyone on board that flight — do you fancy writing one next time you do it?