Caernarfon Castle - Holyhead, United Kingdom
Holyhead, United Kingdom
We sailed all night. That's what we do. Then hit land in the morning. This morning we arrived in Holyhead, Wales. It is a seaport that has linked Wales and Ireland for 4000 years. I'm sure the ferry is more comfortable today.
After breakfast (the food is great), we took a short drive to Caernarfon Castle. It sits on the strait that divides the mainland of Wales from Anglesey. It is a UNESCO Heritage Site. In 1323, King Edward I of England invaded Wales and built a fortress here to control supply routes to the coast, as well as to control access to the agriculturally rich Angelsey.
We took a walking tour of the castle fortress. Now this is a fortress!!! It is massive with it's polygonal towers instead of round ones. It was not completed as you can tell from stones sticking out from some of the walls. It appears that these were to support the floors of other rooms. It is a medieval castle used in the time when bows and arrows were the weapons available. You can see ports for the arrows to be shot from. With the advent of cannons, this fortress became obsolete. That's one of the reasons it was left unfinished, as well as the lack of funds.
When it was decided to make the Castle a Heritage Site, it was renovated and now is a major tourist attraction. It was also used by the Queen and the royal family when Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales in 1969.
Our group split up for lunch and were hosted by three different groups around town. One group went to the Yacht Club, one to the Community Center and our group went to the Methodist Church. We all had a traditional Welsh dish, potato and leek soup. It was delicious!!! Then for dessert we had Welsh cakes, which were also very good. With tea or coffee of course. It was fun to talk to the locals and find out what is going on. They are not doing really well because the slate business is about out of business so unemployment is very high. But at the same time, they have taken in a refugee family from Syria and are helping them start a new life. What a wonderful thing for them to do.
Wales has 3 1/2 million people and 10 million sheep. I was able to find a Knit & Kaboddle shop and buy some wool yarn for my sister.
The weather was nice this morning (that means dry, no rain) for our walk around the castle. Then it rained a few hours. Then the sun came out for our drive back to the ship.
Tomorrow we're off to Dublin, Ireland.