Wales again? Yes! Remember in April of 2013, we took a three day trip to Southern Wales—it was beautiful! We came away from the trip feeling the need to explore the rest of Wales for sure. So this Labor Day weekend, when we had three days off, we drove up to Snowdonia, a National Park in Northern Wales. We stayed in a tiny village, in a small cabin (attached to a hostel but not a hostel), in a very convenient location near Betws-y-Coed (I would love to here your pronunciation of this one).
We drove up to our cabin on Friday night, and headed for Anglesey on Saturday morning. Anglesey is an island that extends in the northwest of Wales. It became especially famous after Prince Charles got stationed there at one of the RAF bases and later moved in with Kate into one of the villages. The locals loved having them there, while Kate and Charles say they will always miss their days at Anglesey.
We did not go looking for their cottage. Instead, we wanted to find this famous South Stack lighthouse. The lighthouse is located on a tiny island. To read the bridge to cross from mainland to the island, we had to go down 400 steps. I believe that in total, round trip, counting all the steps on the island and inside the lighthouse, we had to climb 1000 steps.
Thank goodness we are a fit family.
No complaining or whining—just beautiful views.
I just wrote a brilliant blog story here…and my Live Writer decided to not save anything…so I’ll have to be quick now…
The lighthouse tour lasted about 20 minutes. The guide just led us up the stairs and gave a quick history overview of the lighthouse. Too bad that I only understood maybe 30% of what he was saying…I’ll blame it on his accent.
Cold Atlantic Ocean.
During summer months, thousands of birds nest in this area. We came just a couple weeks too late to see any.
After the lighthouse, we drove 10 minutes to nearby Trearddur Bay. We ate our picnic lunch and let the kids play on the rocky beach.
Katya is such a daddy’s girl.
Mark was looking for crabs.
I love the view of this peaceful village in the background.
From Anglesey, we headed to Caernarfron village, home to the majestic Carnarfron Castle. This one is special. It was built by Edward I as part of his Iron Ring of Castles in Wales. So again, we are talking 13th century here. This one was a cute above though—the design of the towers and the layout that is hourglass shape-tell us that.
Somehow once, the Welsh rebels managed to destroy some of the walls of the castle and even occupy it. But Edward I gathered his troops quickly and quelled the rebellions in the country, occupying the castle again and punishing the Welsh. His son, the TRUE Prince of Wales was born here. Edward I claimed that his son was a real ruler of Wales since he spoke “No English”. And it is true, the kid was brought up speaking Welsh and French since at that time, that’s the language that the nobility spoke.
“Edward of Caernarfon became King of England (Edward II of England) in 1307. His rule was, by many accounts, disastrous. He was deposed from power by his own wife, Isabella (the so-called 'she wolf of France'), and met a very unpleasant death.” You can find many more interesting facts about this castle here.
The kids thought that this castle was same old-same old…they are just tired of castles, and I hate to admit that. That’s why they decided to mix it up with some handstand and climbing up the walls.
Robert and I thought it was pretty neat. Just the fact that our present Prince Charles, who is a Prince of Wales, was crowned in this very castle in 1969, is pretty cool.
After the castle, we drove towards the village where we were staying and got some Welsh pub food for dinner. Great first day in Wales!
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