Caerphilly Castle

This is Caerphilly Castle. It is the largest castle in Wales and the second largest in Britain, second to Windsor Castle. It is located in a town called Caerphilly, which is just outside Cardiff.

Built between 1268 and 1271, it is an early example of a concentric castle.

Unlike many other 13th-century Welsh castles, Caerphilly Castle was not built by Edward I in his crack-down on the Welsh lords, but by Gilbert 'the Red' de Clare, a powerful, red-headed nobleman of Norman descent, as a response to a dispute between him and the Prince of Gwynedd, Llywelyn the Last.

Here is a panorama view of the inside of the castle.

Here you can see the leaning tower.

After visiting the castle we grabbed sandwiches and sat on the hill for lunch. Not a bad view, hey?

A quick stop at the train station, with its vintage posters.

After Caerphilly Castle, we decided to head to Roath Park to enjoy the sun and some ice cream.

It was super hot and super sunny, and while I managed to get a bit of a sunburn, it was a lovely day for snappy photos!

Cardiff Castle

Welcome to Cardiff Castle!

The castle itself is a medieval castle, built on the site of a Roman fort, with a Norman keep inside and some Victorian mansions thrown in, just for good measure.

Above you can see the remains of the Roman wall built into the castle wall. Anything below the red brick line is Roman, while everything above is medieval.

Here you can see what remains of the Norman keep on the mound. It was built in 1091.

You can see the remains of graffiti inside the keep as well. Graffiti took more effort back then.

Here is a panorama of the inside of the keep.

This is the ceiling inside the Arab room of the Victorian mansion. It's even more impressive in person.

The inside of much of the mansion was built in medieval-style. It's horrible overdone, but very impressive none the less.

You can also walk along the perimeter of the castle, which, by the way, is HUGE!

If you would like to read more about Cardiff Castle, do either visit the Wikipedia page or the official web site.

Cardiff

Here are the collection of some random photos I snapped in and around Cardiff. The city itself is lovely, and had some lovely park space.

Located in said green space, a little stone circle! No indication of how old it was, or anything, but hey, it's a stone circle, I'll take it!

This is the front of the Cardiff Millennium Center.

Inscribed on the front of the dome, above the main entrance, are two poetic lines, written by Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis. The Welsh version is Creu Gwir fel gwydr o ffwrnais awen, which means "Creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration". The English is In These Stones Horizons Sing. The lettering is formed by windows in the upstairs bar areas and are internally illuminated at night.

It is located right in the Bay area and fans of Torchwood probably identify it as part of the location where many scenes are shot.

That would probably explain the following memorial wall:

This would appear to be a memorial wall for a character in Torchwood named Ianto. I'm not familiar with Torchwood much, and cannot remember who he is. Perhaps someone can enlighten us?

A couple more shots of the bay area and the Millennium Center.

Despite many people here in London sneering a bit when I said I was heading to Cardiff, I loved the city and am looking forward to returning.