A CASTLE IN CONWY

I woke up early on Monday morning, April 17. I made myself a couple slices of toasted Welsh bread and a cup of coffee and went out onto our patio. There I was joined by a seagull and a raven. It seemed the Raven was a harbinger of the Old World gods, and he got a piece of my toast as a peace offering. The hills around the town, and the mountains in the distance were covered in what the Welsh call Dragon’s Breath, a fog. It was a beautiful, still morning.

For our first full day in Wales, Robin and I decided that we would keep it local and checkout what was available in Conwy. It had the benefit that Robin and I didn’t have to drive anywhere. No “CURB!” today.

Our condo is called Castle View Townhome. The patio overlooks St. Mary’s Church, which is the oldest building in the town. It is still a working church. Robin and I hope to make it back from Manchester on April 23 to attend service there. It is a beautiful building! The townhome sits atop a hospice gift shop, and doesn’t have a front door. The hospice gift shop faces High Street, that runs along the north of the town, parallel to the north wall.

The view from our patio. St. Mary’s Church is in the foreground. Castell Conwy is in the background.

The Castell Conwy (Conwy Castle) Visitor’s Center was on the south side of the castle wall, on Rose Hill Street. Robin and I started our browsing there. There were a lot of great items there, all with a Welsh theme. I bought myself a Welsh Rugby jersey. Robin, ever thinking about others, got a good start on the gift buying.

Rose Hill Street runs along the south castle wall and curves north just west of the Visitor Center. It runs along the west castle wall, intersects High Street, then exits out through a gate in the wall. Robin and I continued north on Rose Hill Street, checking out bakeries, coffee shops, and other gift shops. We turned right and continued east along High Street.

Our first stop at a Point of Interest was Plas Mawr, an Elizabethan town home built in 1576. It is preserved and curated by Cadw (To keep), the Welsh government agency that preserves historical artifacts and properties. We bought a 3-day Adventurer pack that would give us free entrance to two Cadw sites a day for three days within a week.

Cadw certainly have done an excellent job with this property! It was in great shape and Robin and I learned a lot about life at that time through an audio guided tour. The biggest takeaway for me was that people in the 1500s were tiny! Robin didn’t have too much trouble because, well, she’s short. But big, lumbering me with metal rods in his neck had a bit of difficulty. But, we managed. It is easy to see that, for that time, this was a luxurious mansion.

The lintel of the door was as high as my head. If you look down, you’ll see the top of the doorway was at my shoulder height.

Since time was at a premium, we crossed the town to Castell Conwy and used our Cadw pass. The castle is impressive, with eight towers. We climbed the stairs in a tower by the gatehouse, and walked along the battlements. You could easily see why the English King Edward chose this site for the castle. It commands the Afon Conwy (Conwy River), the Aber Conwy (Conwy Estuary), and the Morfa Conwy (Conwy Marsh). We spent an hour or so at the castle. There was more to look at, but Robin and I were both using canes, we’re old and overweight. Sue us. I will rely on the reliable Welsh legal “blood from a turnip” defense.