Getting to Cardiff
Getting to Cardiff only takes a couple of hours from Pembroke, so we planned several stops along the way. First, we discovered that Kidwelly Castle was slightly off our route and worth a detour, as it is featured in the opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Of course we had to stop!!
I never bore of castles, but I'm not an expert at photographing them. I always think I'm taking tons and tons of pictures, and when I sit down to review them in the evening I find that none of them really captures the feel of the place very well. Sigh. Oh well, I'm a ...something that's not a photographer, Jim.
After Kidwelly we decided that we would see Caerphilly Castle, the largest castle in Wales and then just to really pack it all in we'd hit Caerleon before heading into Cardiff proper. Going to Caerleon meant overshooting Cardiff and then backtracking a bit but it meant we wouldn't have to drive anywhere tomorrow and could walk and take public transit all day getting around to the things we wanted to see, and that suits us both better, so we knocked off both the outside-Cardiff things in one afternoon. This, of course, was based on my recollection of Caerleon being an open field next to a rugby pitch that you could simply walk into any time day of night. We'll get to that, but first - Caerphilly Castle!
Caerphilly Castle, in addition to being the largest castle in Wales (according to their literature) also makes much hay of having a tower that leans more than the leaning tower of Pisa. One might counter that the leaning tower of Pisa is still, actually, you know, INTACT. Just a minor quibble, I know.
Caerphilly has been subjected to significant amounts of restoration, so that they have several halls and towers with roofs, and usable for events. Other parts of the castle look like construction zones, or are blocked off from access where they're storing construction materials or haven't finished the restoration efforts. So it's a very large castle but it's less accessible than some of the less restored castles from a "running wild up and down towers and along passages" perspective.
And finally, Caerleon, where there is a series of Roman remains, comprising a barracks and the most complete amphitheater found in the British Isles. I had visited this site previously, about ten years ago, and remembered being very impressed with the amphitheater, and also that you could walk right out to it. Well, it turned out that sometime in the last ten years they've decided that it should be behind a locked gate and the public only allowed admission between 9:30am at 5pm. We got there around 5:30, so we scoffed the law and went in anyway (what? we weren't going to disturb anything, also while there's a locked gate, when it's open admission is free).
Amphitheater:
Barracks:
We reached Cardiff around 7pm, had a lovely dinner then a pint at the Goat Major, where they serve Brains.
Tomorrow...we're in Cardiff! We'll find something to do, I'm sure.
I never bore of castles, but I'm not an expert at photographing them. I always think I'm taking tons and tons of pictures, and when I sit down to review them in the evening I find that none of them really captures the feel of the place very well. Sigh. Oh well, I'm a ...something that's not a photographer, Jim.
After Kidwelly we decided that we would see Caerphilly Castle, the largest castle in Wales and then just to really pack it all in we'd hit Caerleon before heading into Cardiff proper. Going to Caerleon meant overshooting Cardiff and then backtracking a bit but it meant we wouldn't have to drive anywhere tomorrow and could walk and take public transit all day getting around to the things we wanted to see, and that suits us both better, so we knocked off both the outside-Cardiff things in one afternoon. This, of course, was based on my recollection of Caerleon being an open field next to a rugby pitch that you could simply walk into any time day of night. We'll get to that, but first - Caerphilly Castle!
Caerphilly Castle, in addition to being the largest castle in Wales (according to their literature) also makes much hay of having a tower that leans more than the leaning tower of Pisa. One might counter that the leaning tower of Pisa is still, actually, you know, INTACT. Just a minor quibble, I know.
Caerphilly has been subjected to significant amounts of restoration, so that they have several halls and towers with roofs, and usable for events. Other parts of the castle look like construction zones, or are blocked off from access where they're storing construction materials or haven't finished the restoration efforts. So it's a very large castle but it's less accessible than some of the less restored castles from a "running wild up and down towers and along passages" perspective.
And finally, Caerleon, where there is a series of Roman remains, comprising a barracks and the most complete amphitheater found in the British Isles. I had visited this site previously, about ten years ago, and remembered being very impressed with the amphitheater, and also that you could walk right out to it. Well, it turned out that sometime in the last ten years they've decided that it should be behind a locked gate and the public only allowed admission between 9:30am at 5pm. We got there around 5:30, so we scoffed the law and went in anyway (what? we weren't going to disturb anything, also while there's a locked gate, when it's open admission is free).
Amphitheater:
Barracks:
We reached Cardiff around 7pm, had a lovely dinner then a pint at the Goat Major, where they serve Brains.
Tomorrow...we're in Cardiff! We'll find something to do, I'm sure.