We had two sight-seeing objectives that brought us to northern Wales: castles and mountains. So our ever-efficient travel "agent" saw to it that we had two full days here: one devoted to castles and one to the mountains. My first plan was to write two blogs, one for each, but when I started going through my castle pictures (we visited two), I seemed to have a lot. Besides, I'm not in a hurry to finish the re-living of this wonderful trip that I get to do by writing these posts. So there will be one per castle!
Built in the 1280's (and it just took them four years! almost unbelievable!) to help Edward I (of England) hold on to the Welsh territory he'd recently "liberated," it's in remarkably good condition and so fun to ramble around. (This Wikipedia article gives you a lot more of its fascinating history.)
Please note the fabulous weather in most of these photos. Our Airbnb host said her previous guests we plagued with rain and cold, but we were so fortunate!
Much of this structure, and its magnificent stonework, reminded me of our similar exploration of Machu Picchu, in 2006. I wasn't blogging then, but you can see a lot of our photos from that excursion here, and make your own comparisons.
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| how did they build this in four years without modern construction equipment? |
You know I'm nuts for arches...
...and here's another one:
One of the coolest architectural features of the place are the round chambers, whether seen from the bottom...
...or the top:
Another drawing card is the battlements that you can walk around. This shot looking down onto some individual rooms really made me think of Machu Picchu:
Of course there's a chapel:
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| a better look at one of these fine windows— not original, but still lovely |
Needless to say, the kids had a great time exploring all the stairs, towers, walkways, nooks, and crannies of the castle. As well as some of the cute additions...
...fun for kids of all ages...
The Welsh can be justifiably proud of this and the other castles. We saw another fantastic one after crossing over to Anglesey. Stay tuned!
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| love the dragon on the Welsh flag! |
3 comments:
Another correction :) we had lunch in Beaumaris not Conwy...although looking back we probably should have
You know, I didn't check my notes, just assuming it was Conwy. But thanks!
Castle does have similarities to Machu Picchu and it is older.
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