Exploring The Castle at Conwy
And the city walls
I’ve been remembering places I’ve visited in Turkey and completely forgot that there are others I’ve explored. Conwy Castle and the old city walls are in Conwy. (How about that?) I had never heard of it before we planned to stay there and I thought it had been misspelled. I wanted to write it as Conway. It’s Welsh so I should be happy it had at least one vowel!
We drove directly from Heathrow Airport to Conwy. We were pleased to be back on the left side of the road after being months on the right. My niece drove all the way. I baa-ed every time I saw sheep. There was a lot of baa-ing from the back seat which amused my niece but maybe not the other passengers. The countryside was just so green and luscious. Greener than Ireland? Maybe not, but a close second.
We arrived in Conwy, checked into the Castlebank Hotel and went for a walk around the top of the walls. It was blowing a gale. There were gaps in the stonework — yikes! But great views over the town and the castle.
Conwy (previously known in English as Conway — (I don’t feel so stupid now), is a small town in Northern Wales with a lot of history. It’s a world heritage site with a 13th-century castle and walls.
The walls wrap around Conwy’s old town with 21 towers and three gateways still standing. We didn’t climb all of them!
After being buffeted about by the wind, my niece and I headed to the “local” for a few pre-dinner drinks to warm us. The aptly named Castle Hotel was adorned with every sort of Christmas decoration you could wish for. The warm friendly ambience was conducive to relaxing in the paisley-covered comfortable armchairs, which we thankfully sank into for the rest of the afternoon. The floors were covered with a rich, thick, red tartan carpet. (I wish I’d taken a photo. I’d never seen a carpet like this in Australia.)
The hotel restaurant opened at 6 and we were there on the dot! The meals were delicious but not huge so we ordered dessert as well. We ambled up the hill to our guest house and I climbed the stairs to the attic room. (I always wanted a house with an attic.)
I had the best sleep I’ve had for months — strong winds were blowing on all sides of my little attic room. I didn’t wake until 8.30 — what a marvellous sleep! — and went downstairs to an amazing Full Welsh Breakfast of eggs, bacon, locally produced black sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms and sausages. Yum! After devouring everything on my plate, I went back to bed!
I was intending on getting up later but the day turned colder and windier and I changed my mind and decided bed in my cozy attic room was the place to be! So I missed out on seeing the suspension bridge that Thomas Telford had designed. Thomas Telford is a household name in this part of the UK but you can’t see everything!
Not surprisingly, Conwy has been named among the best places to live in the UK in 2022, according to The Times. Consequently, we heard no Welsh being spoken. Every person we spoke to had migrated from England to Wales. It is a beautiful place even if we found it very windy and cold. But it was December in the UK. What did we expect?
Erie Astin day trips to the White Horse on her own. Read her story. What a magnificent experience!
Here’s another fascinating story by Erika Burkhalter. Petrogyphs in Alaska?
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