We arrive at Conwy Castle at opening time, 9:30. It is an impressive castle with ten high towers overlooking the Conwy river. The defensive structure is known as Wales’ best preserved fortified town. Its extensive walls with 21 towers protect the whole village.
The castle gateway is protected from above by ‘murder holes’. We hold the hands of Zeno and Cleo tight when we’re standing on the top of the towers.
Cleo meets a Dutch family and decides to continue the visit with them. The extended families climb up and down the towers to visit the Prison Tower, Kings Tower, Chapel and Royal Apartements.
Afterwards we wander through the old town to an Elizabethan town house Plas Mawr, this big house has some great decorated fireplaces and wonderful ceilings. The children are very busy with the audio tour and listen carefully in every room although everything is in English. We can also try some costumes. We walk back towards the car park on top of the city walls to get a real feel of this wonderful place.
At only a 30 minutes drive is Caernarfon Castle, even bigger and more dramatic. It was build because of war with the Welsh princes, and its defensive strength is clear, but polygonal towers, eagle statues and multi-coloured masonry also resonate Roman architecture.
The children need to pee, and trying to get reunited with Tim again we all get lost climbing the towers up and down, wander through the defensive corridors and on the walls. Finally we are reunited and see the last bit together and get one icecream for the children to share as the sun has returned.
On the edge of the town are the remains of the Roman fort as this was an important defensive site already in Roman times. Not much is left and we drive to a rocky beach next to the castle for some aerial shots and some stone throwing (keilen).
As we could already see from the castle towers, the mountains of Snowdonia are nearby, so we drive back via the national park through the valley along the highest mountains of Wales. We stop at a lake for picture of the lake, the mountains and a lonely tree, but sadly an elderly couple has set up in the only spot to take the perfect picture. So we get back to the car, and try again at a next spot.
We enjoy our drive back home through Snowdonia and spot the highest peak (Snowdon), but we postpone possible stunning hikes to the next day as it’s already late.
