Chapter 8 Castles to Italian Villages

Today was a day that showed me that Wales is truly a hidden jewel of Europe. It seems that Wales has it all. I could easily see myself retiring in some of the towns we visited today. It has the mountains and the beaches here. The people are so nice and there is so much to see and do here.

Today we were picked up at 9 after our home cooked breakfast. We checked out of that B & B as we were moving to an 18^th century inn, called The Black Boy Inn. The Black Boy was a slave that gained his freedom and then donated a huge portion of his earnings back to the poor. He became a hero to the Welsh people. The Welsh did not believe in slavery.

After we had dropped off our luggage at the Inn, we were taken to the train station and Sam and I rode a steam engine train up the mountains. This was a beautiful ride in which we saw the green countryside, mountain lakes, rivers, and many sheep. It is easy to see why they say that there are 10,000 sheep to every person in Wales. There were many baby lambs and they are so cute to see bouncing around the fields. We also marveled at the rock walls that seemed to go straight up the mountainsides. We were told that the farmers were paid an allowance for maintaining some of these walls as they have been here for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Were we were met at the train stop at Beddgelert.

Beddgelert has some of the best ice cream of Northern Wales. We were treated to a cone of this homemade all natural ice cream and it was delicious. We then took a walk along a river to the grave of Gelert.  Sam has explained this legend to you in his chapter and I won’t go over it again. I found it touching that they pay homage to one of man’s best friends, but I also appreciate the morale of this tale. The morale is that if you jump to conclusions before you get all the information, you could be making a grave mistake. After visiting this grave site, we walked through a few of the towns shops selling the crafts from some of the locals.

After we were done in this town, we went to the town of Criccieth. I fell in love with this town. It is right on the coast and is a beautiful quiet little town. It is almost like stepping back in time, when life wasn’t such a rat race. There is a beautiful beach, fantastic views of the mountains and the water, colorful houses, and lovely little shops. We had lunch of sandwiches at a little tea shop in their little garden. We had walked through the castle on the hill overlooking the water earlier. It was one of the smaller castles we had seen.

After we were done in this town, we were taken to Portmeirion. This town was created by Sir Clough-Williams Ellis. He was an environmentalist before this was popular. He hated throwing things out. This town or village was created by using the various things that others were throwing away. For example, there are statues all over the place that other towns were getting rid of that he paid to have shipped to him. The whole village is done in sort of an Italian Village theme. There is a 5 star hotel many shops and café’s here. It is on the beach as well. It is sort of a surreal place, but the forest area is truly an amazing place. In it there is everything from American Redwoods to Japanese trees. It contained Azalea trees, jasmine, magnolia, and other flowering trees I cannot remember, but wish I could have in my yard. We are here early in the year and it was so colorful, I cannot imagine what it looks like in all its glory.

We were then brought back to Caernarfon, where our Inn is located. The Inn is actually within the outer walls of the castle. This was the first castle we visited and it is so breathtaking to see, even after seeing it before. We had dinner in the Inn’s restaurant and the food was delicious. We splurged and actually had dessert here. We ate so much we had to take a walk around the town again. The castle at night is just as impressive! Pictures really can’t do them justice, you need to stand in their presence to see how truly impressive they are. If you ever come to Wales, we happen to know some amazing guides who can take you to all these places.