Today we have quite a few stops planned as we make our way to London. Unfortunately as we wake up it is clear that the weather does not want to cooperate. We exit on the patio and we can barely see in the distance the contour of Cardiff in the fog while a persistant rain is falling just outside the protected patio.
Luckily the birds do not care and are foraging right in front of us and we take a few nice pictures including one of an European Siskin, our first one.
The hotel also offers breakfast so we make our way through the many corridors to the reception and then to the breakfast room which looks quite elegant.
There aren’t a lot of choices for breakfast in the buffet but the croissants are really good and you can also order one item from the menu so overall we are quite full as we finish breakfast.
As we return to the room we stop to explore the lobby area. It is quite expansive with many sitting rooms and even a small library. It looks quite cozy but we don’t have time today to enjoy it as we have quite a few stops planned.
We then make the long procession from the rooms to the car a few times to bring all luggage and then also our relatives. And then it is time to move to the first castle which is really close, Caerphilly Castle.
Caerphilly Castle claim to fame is that it is the largest castle in Wales and the second largest in the UK after Windsor. It was built to preempt the threat from the Welsh Princes and then transformed into a palatial home after the threat has passed. It certainly is quite impressive even today as we try to understand where the entrance might be while looking at the swans and Canadian geese nesting here.
However for us it will be more like the castle where it always rains as we get rained out during most of our visit. Still we persist gamely and after obtaining entrance using our CADW passes in we go via the mightily impressive gate.
As we pass the moat and enter the gate we encounter an unexpected attraction which is also the second thing that for certain we will remember about Caerphilly, the dragon den. It is an animated story told in a loop and it is quite interesting and exciting especially when the dragons start to emit smoke from their nostrils.
The other major attraction is the leaning tower. It leans quite seriously and for fun a statue was added that seems to hold the tower up. At least the Welsh have a good sense of humor besides lots of rain.
We escape the rain inside the main hall. It is suitably impressive, a hundred people would fit in there and you would still be able to maintain Covid restrictions if so needed.
There aren’t many furnished rooms but still we enjoy walking from room to room as it permits us to avoid the persistent rain.
And then it stops for a short while and we exit on the walls trying to catch some glimpses of the outside world from the well fortified heights.
We catch a few glimpses of the lake outside but we are more impressed by the defenders who tiredlessly defend the wall against the invaders.
The walk ends in another covered area with one room being even more furnished in a style that we are not sure whether it is kingly or just some kids furniture stored there :).
As we exit the castle we want to buy some souvenirs and find out a very unexpected news, our money is obsolete. And no one can exchange it than maybe the post. So we go to the post and after standing in line we find out that only the central post in Cardiff might be able to still exchange it so we are quite in a bind as it isn’t an insignificant amount of money. As we move to the next attraction we make the decision to try to find the post office in Cardiff later in the day if it is still open, who knows what our luck might be.
