Castle Hopping, Caerphilly To Cardiff

Me in front of Caerphilly Castle.

I must begin with an apology for not posting in so very long. The past week has been a little busy. Classes have begun but the partying hasn't ended. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining but it is a little difficult to find time for everything. One thing is for sure, I'm finding everything that I came over here in search of. Now on to taxis, trains, castles, and everything in between.

You'll notice that there are very few pictures of me with someone on this trip. There is quite an extensive list of causes for this but to put it simply, church interfered with one friend's availability and the other girl who was going to go decided to wait and go with her a different weekend so she wouldn't be alone. I went with Marta so that she wouldn't be alone either. Its been a couple of weeks since this trip happened so please forgive me if I have forgotten some of the facts and details.

We caught a taxi to the train station at about 6:25 a.m. I don't usually do early very well but I must admit that it has gotten much easier to get up at the crack of dawn after having been a rower. Anyways, we caught the 6:45 train to Cardiff Central. We got into Cardiff about 8:00 am and changed trains to Caerphilly. We finally arrived in Caerphilly at about 8:30 am. We weren't sure how to get to the castle from the train station but after consulting our Go Britain book (a must for anyone traveling in the UK) we discovered that it appeared to be within walking distance. The great thing about walking to a castle is that they're big and impossible to miss. Luckily, the train station was on a hill and as soon as we rounded the first corner we were able to see the towers of Caerphilly Castle.

The castle didn't open until 9:00 am and seeing as it was 8:50 am we had a few minutes to kill. There is a walking path that surrounds the castle so we just walked around and took some pictures of it from a distance. Please continue reading to take a virtual walking tour of Caerphilly Castle and the moat. It is a lovely place, take your time.

This is the exterior of Caerphilly Castle looking right if you're facing the castle on the foot bridge pictured at the top of this post.

I'm not sure if you can see it but that would be the official flag of Wales and the red specks are actually dragons.


Another shot of the wall and the moat.

A side view of Caerphilly taken from the road that circles the city center (downtown). Just imagine if that were in the middle of the town you lived in. Everyone here takes things like castles for granted but I guess that if you saw it every day you would too. Notice also that the grass really is greener on the other side.

To be honest I can't remember exactly where this one was taken from but I know that it was somewhere on the path.

Marta and I now have a tradition of taking at least one "goofy picture" of us whenever we go somewhere. I'm not sure how this one originated and I don't think that I want to know. Somehow I always end up looking stranger than her, I think that she plans it that way. I hope you've enjoyed your laugh now moving on...

Again, I can't remember the particular location of this one. Wait, actually I think that this one was taken from the inside of the first wall. Yea, that's right. That would be the inside of the wall seen in all of the above pictures. I wonder who else has seen the view from this angle, warriors perhaps? I won't tell them that I've scaled the wall if you won't.

Have you ever heard the term, "hoard?" Such as a hoard of apples or to hoard something. Well, that wooden structure that looks like a pathetic shed would be the back side of a hoard. It was a wooden building perched on the castle wall that had little triangular shaped windows in it from which arrows would be shot at the attackers as a way of defending the castle. You learn something knew every day, even in Wales. That would be a well in the foreground for anyone who might be curious about the stone hole in the ground.

A view from the hoard. This is probably as creative as my photography will get.


An external view of the, "Great Room."




The interior of the, "Great Room." Those would be the coats of arms for the ruling families and no, there weren't any for Dudley but wait for Warwick.

A front view of the above hoard.


Another spiral staircase for my dear Auntie Jean. I will admit that this one was steeper than the one at Chepstow and it was about three stories tall. It seemed to be never ending. I was with someone who doesn't do well on spiral staircases either and going down I always had to be in front.

Marta, Caerphilly, and I.

The Welsh dragon guarding the castle.

Me and a human catapult. Kind of nifty if you ask me.

My second pathetic attempt at creative photography. This was taken through a rock, yea that's right, through a boulder. It was on a hill and I was at the bottom looking up. There was a square hole cut through the rock and if you look closely you'll see another boulder on the right and to the left of it the castle with a window. I hope that you can make out the details because it was horrible trying to get in position to capture it all.

A last view of Caerphilly. Now on to Cardiff...finally.


This isn't the actual castle this is only the, "baby castle," on the same property. The property was sold to the capital city of Cardiff in 1945, I think, by the family that owned it. The two castles and the 10 acre property were bought for £1.00, that's $2.00 at today's exchange rate. The grounds serve as Cardiff's equivalent of Central Park. Photography is not allowed in Cardiff Castle due to the simple fact that it was hand painted by William Burgess. Most of it is made of the finest marble andladenn in gold. I hope you enjoy the following pictures of the ground and the, "baby castle."

A wall that enclosed the grounds originally built by the Romans. This wall was rebuilt on the site of the Roman one and the original blocks are still at the base of this one.


The Cardiff Castle goofy picture with Marta and I now on to better, more beautiful things...


My first wild peacock experience. They roam freely on the castle grounds. It seems as though I remember having a similar experience with chickens in Key West once.

Me and the main castle in Cardiff. Notice the detailed paint on the outside of the clock tower.


These would be the stairs that we had to climb to get half way up the castle. There were many more to come. I don't think that I've ever been on steeper stairs in my life. On our way down an hour later we saw a lady going down those steps in heels, kudos to her.


The main castle in Cardiff as seen from the, "baby castle," that has been pictured above.


Me and a window, obviously, at the, "baby castle."

Yes, we went up there.

A view of Cardiff Castle from the, "baby castle."

Me in the, "baby castle."


Old and new, a glance at Cardiff.


Me and Cardiff from the highest point on the, "baby castle."

Playing hide and go seek with the Welsh dragon. This has to be by far my favorite picture from Cardiff.


"baby castle"


Me and my "baby castle."


The rebuilt Roman wall.

Me hugging a Roman (ruin). The light colored blocks at the bottom, by my hand, are the actual stones placed by the Romans before the original wall was destroyed.

Well there you have it, Caerphilly and Cardiff castles, finally. I apologize, again, for taking so long to get this blog up. I went to London last weekend and I have pictures coming soon, promise. Tomorrow I'm off to Stonehenge but I'm hoping to get those pictures up really quickly. Next week my sister, Lauren, is coming to visit and we're planning to spend most of the week exploring the parts of Scotland that most of the world misses. I'll post those stories and (mis)adventures as soon as they happen.

Now for a question for my regular readers. Would you rather I post several small posts about everyday life in Swansea with bigger posts about my travels or just keep posting as I am? Post comments please and let me know what you think. This is here for you guys so keep me updated on your requests. Its midnight here so good night from tomorrow and the far side of the big pond.