Our first stop of the day was Cardiff Castle. We debated walking to the Doctor Who Experience and doing that first (Marsha loves to walk), but since it was two miles away and some of Cardiff looks a bit rough, the bike race was going on, time was a bit of a factor, and the castle was right next door, it made more sense to do it first. Also let us sleep in a bit longer.
We walked around the block to the Castle gates. As we crossed over the short drawbridge, I could feel my inner 12-year-old jumping for joy. Our very first actual castle! We have nothing like this in the U.S. Disney's castles are cool, but fake. Finally, the real deal!
Our first stop was the visitor's center where we got our complimentary audio tour and grabbed a couple of muffins for breakfast. We also tried Welsh Cakes, which look like pancakes, but are basically soft cookies with blueberries and a few raisins. Quite tasty.
First we watched a short film about the history of the castle, which was free of dialogue and hit the high spots of the site's 2000-year history. It started as a small Roman fortress around 40 A.D. This wasn't discovered until the original Roman walls were discovered in the 1800s.
The outer walls have long tunnels that surround the entire fortresses. These were used as air raid shelters during WWII. The castle's owner, Lord Bute, allowed the city to breach the outer walls to add doors to the shelters (he also gave the castle to the city after the war). These very long tunnels are also decorated with morale-boosting posters, most of them reminding folks that "loose lips sink ships."
The next oldest part is the Keep, which looks straight out of Lord of the Rings, and dates all the way back to the Middle Ages. After climbing the very steep stairs, you can tour several of the original (now empty) rooms.
There were also wooden buildings within the keep itself, including a great hall, all obviously long since gone. The myriad of square holes mark where wooden posts used to hold up the various structures. In addition to being a safe haven within the castle, the keep was also used as a prison for high-ranking lords that had been accused of treason.
The castle grounds are huge and used to have a lot more buildings. There was once a huge wall that extended from the gates all the way to the keep. Sadly, one of the castle's many owners (it was passed down from generation to generation) wanted to open up the castle grounds and tore down most of the ancient buildings. Historians, needless to say, were not happy.
Along the one side of the outer wall is also a mansion, built in the 1800s but designed to match the medieval surroundings. The general ticket (which we had) takes you through a few of the rooms. You can also add on a longer guided tour.
It reminded us a bit of Biltmore Estate, but even more decorated. This section, not built by the same guy who tore down parts, clearly had more respect for medieval history.
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