Wales is the land of breathtaking landscapes, magnificent castles and quaint towns. We only made one trip there, visiting several places of interest over the course of a few days, and brought back a significant number of photographic memories. I was pleasantly surprised with how many shots I had to choose from for the purposes of this essay.
I’ll start with one of my favorite vistas.
It is the view over the town of Aberystwyth from the nearby elevation called Constitution Hill. The town nestled by the bay and the coastline that continues into the background, in my mind, are very much emblematic of Welsh scenery.
A slightly different view, although no less typical, is of towns of Conwy (roofs in the foreground) and Deganwy (on the far bank), separated by the Conwy River.
And here is the rooftop view of the town of Caernarfon.
The above picture was taken from the high walls of the Caernarfon Castle, one of the most fascinating and storied fortifications in all of Wales. In its current form, it dates back to the late 13th century, when then King Edward I defeated the Welsh army. Here is a look inside.
On a given day, the otherwise empty castle hosts a number of artisan stalls that perform demonstrations of their crafts. There is also a guy dressed in medieval garb, who walks around the place and introduces himself as its master mason, James of Saint George, offering various trivia about the castle to the visitors. Here’s him chatting us up.
The Cardiff Castle is one of the largest in the land, as behooves a major city, and in parts more ornate, but it left a lesser impression on us somehow. I did like how its small old keep rose to the skies, nonetheless.
And here is a view onto another castle, the one in Conwy.
Although yours truly admittedly prefers man-made wonders to nature-made ones, on our cross-Wales drive we did stop at a couple of nature-made points of interest. One of those was the place known as the Devil’s Bridge, comprising of a trail around a gorge with several waterfalls.
That shot is marginally deceiving, as you lack a point of reference to recognize that the water flows practically on a vertical plane. The couple of lookout decks seen on the right side of the stream are connected by stairways that run at roughly 60° incline.
The final shot in this selection is of the artificial Mediterranean village of Portmeirion, familiar to some as the setting of a 60’s show called The Prisoner.
It may strike some as too spurious to be worth a look, but its flamboyancy provides a singular contrast with the otherwise rugged and reserved scenery found across Wales.
We packed a lot of fun and near a dozen stops into the few days of driving across Wales, but I am sure we left a lot more to be explored.
Where are the rolling hills and all the greenery?
I did mention something about man-made versus nature-made 😉