Caerphilly Castle

I fell in love with Wales when we went last week while my mom was visiting, and so we decided to go again this week for a quick day trip to Caerphilly Castle. It's the largest castle in Wales and it's really beautiful. (And also did a good job as a castle in its day, never having been taken by force.) It's a Norman castle, having been built in the mid-13th century by a Welsh lord.


This castle is surrounded by a huge moat and water system that makes it very picturesque from the outside.


There's also a big drawbridge going into the front gates.


Inside they had a display of models of castle weapons, with gigantic wooden catapults and some other things that I couldn't identify.


 We went to another castle last week (which I will post about as soon as I download the pictures...) which the kids liked better because they said it had more long narrow passageways and places to explore. I thought this medieval passageway was pretty good myself. It's the passage that the lord used to connect his private chambers with the Great Hall and other operational centers of the castle.


They've refurbished the Great Hall. They had craft and snack tables set up but I thought that ruined the ambience so I tried to get a picture without them. (Okay, so the glaring electric lights don't do much for the ambience either.)


Here are some pictures from inside the castle courtyard.



The stairs to one of the towers were still in good enough shape to climb, and there were pretty good views from the top. We even got some sun at just the right time.


 I tried to get a shot of the stairs to show how narrow and steep and long they were. This does not do them justice at all, as they wound around and around and around...


These were the private rooms for the lords and important guests...


...complete with ensuite bathrooms!


You can faintly see the Welsh flag flying from the towers here. One last classic castle picture of the front entrance gates from the inner courtyard.


We decided to get a pass to all the Welsh historic sites, so you will be seeing many more castle photos! Wales was a battleground for a long time, so there are lots of castles. It's so fun to be able to drive to sites like this in a morning. We even made it back in time on this trip for a matinee movie showing at the village church. More on that later!

Comments

  1. din 'illahi5 April 2018 at 11:45

    Nifty!
    In my small amount of traveling around places where old buildings or parts of buildings still stand I find myself having mixed feelings about renovating these old structures. On the one hand if nothing is done to preserve them they will eventually crumble and no longer be recognizable. On the other hand, restoring buildings almost feels like cheating, and even if done well some of the mystery gets lost (as you noted seeing the electric lights in the picture). I come down on the side of preserving and restoring things but with some bittersweet feelings. I kind of prefer exploring ruins that have been left to ruin.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel9 April 2018 at 01:54

      Totally agree. I also think it's so beautiful to watch the gradual process of nature reclaiming her old stones...We went to some more sites this weekend and I found myself taking pictures of the plants as much as the castle!

      Delete
    2. din 'illahi9 April 2018 at 08:28

      Oh yes. I like this too.

      Delete

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