Baltic trip - Day 6 - Snowdonia and Porthmadog
The day started with both of us up at the same time. This makes it a little tough for me to do e mail because Chris is like an anxious puppy eager to go out. He paces and looks at his watch until I can’t stand it. I shoo’d him out the door with the promise that when he returned, we’d go for a walk together.
Ten minutes later he was back and just as eager, so I shut stuff down and followed him. I was having a hard time waking up this morning for some reason and was pretty grumpy. He led me in the opposite direction from the lighthouse this morning, over dune and well-cropped grassy areas (the lawnmowers here are sheep). He finally led me to an abandoned cottage - just perfect for the Abandoned Places site on LJ. The view was fabulous and I started to wake up a bit more. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was my cheery self again.
To our amazement, they were already serving breakfast as we had a Tauk tour in and I guess they wanted to get on the road early. We didn’t mind in the least. We ate and headed back to the room to get our luggage ready for the move to Anchor 3. Then it was out the door for the Snowdon National Reserve. We had tried to book tickets for the train, but it was sold out. So we made the decision to drive.
I have to admit the stone hedges aren’t as frightening as they were two days ago and I’m pleased to admit we had no brushed with death. The roads were single lane at times - that was an adventure when facing oncoming traffic. Chris only got honked at once when he didn’t give way to an uphill vehicle quite as fast as they would have likes us to. Still we navigated the roads, with a couple of stops for photos, in good stead and arrived at Snowdon Park entrance at about 10:30. The first available stand by was 4:30 and we had no intention of staying that long. So we did a bit of hiking and then decided it was time to check out other sites.
We settled upon Porthmadog and headed into the town. It’s pretty much what you would expect of a sea port. Lots of nifty little shops to look in, however the one restaurant we wanted to dine in was closed for a private function - that was sort of stinky, but now the disappointment was spread evenly around. We settle on a small pub. Chris had lasagna and I had (surprise) fish and chips. We shopped around until we were quite wilted from the heat and headed back to our hotel, praying that the room was ready.
We were now in Anchor 3, which is a cottage that faces the pool and it was hopping with folks. Some of the wedding party, which were now assembled at the hotel was tearing the place up. Still we were able to nap, at least until the gentleman can with the recyclables. He was off loading and the crash of the bottles woke me right up. I figured it was a sign to get on the computer and get in a bit of posting.
At five I woke Chris up and we took a dip in the pool. It was cool compared to our standards, but it as still refreshing. There has been a heat wave here and none of the rooms have a/c (usually it’s not necessary). It’s been hard to get cool, so the pool was a nice choice. Chris remarked that he didn’t think he’d ever be swimming in the village, but there you have it.
After that, it was time for a fast shower and then off to dinner. We were eating in the hotel and I am kicking myself because I forgot the camera. Our apps weren’t very photogenic, but the entrees were lovely and dessert… The amuze was a fish and shrimp ball and mushroom soup with a Guinness froth.
I had: King Scallops with seagrass spaghetti as a starter, followed by wild sea bass and translucent crab ravioli. It was accompanied by a fennel salad.
Chris had: squab with salad greens and Sole with a pea sausage and spring peas.
Now let’s talk dessert. We ordered a cherry and pistachio parfait. I was expecting something in a tall glass. What we got was very different. The cherry came in the form of a very tangy cherry square and the pistachio came as little dumplings decorated with pistachio brittle. And there was a lollipop - which had the cherry mixture inside and was dipped in a pistachio white chocolate mixture. It was pretty crazy and it tasted great!
After that we went back to the room. It doesn’t get dark until very late (for us) and while Chris went for a walk, I succumbed to one of my favorite movies. They were showing The Mummy on Channel 6. Paradise I tell you.
Tomorrow we head for Dover and I will be sad to say good bye to Portmeirion. It was a fabulous visit and I can’t wait to come back.