Hereford

 

Hereford is a cathedral city on the border of Wales and England.

Hereford Cathedral was originally built in 1079 by the Normans.

I never got used to the cafes in the cathedrals having tombstones in them.

A 14th century book chest

Hereford Cathedral houses the Mappa Mundi, made in 1300.

Some of the map was... speculative. Or relied too heavily on ancient Greek and Roman sources.

A handy English translation of the map was also featured.

Hereford Cathedral is also home to the largest library of chained books in the world.

Putta became the first Bishop of Hereford in the 7th century.

Hereford Cathedral contains one of four 1217 Magna Carta copies.

The Lady Chapel

The tomb of John Swinfield, who died in 1311. The pig features are indeed a pun.

Sir Richard de la Bere, High Sheriff of Herefordshire, died in 1514. His tomb depicts his two wives and twenty-one children.

Just a picnic table on someone's tomb, NBD.

A pleasant lunch in Hereford

Hereford is a beautiful historic city overlooking the Wye River.

Portmeirion

 

Portmeirion is a tourist village designed by Sir Clough William-Ellis in the 1900s to look like an Italian village.

You check in at Castell Deudraeth before taking a cart to your room.

We stayed in the Anchor building overlooking the pool and estuary.

The TV show The Prisoner was famously filmed here. The channel playing the show on loop wasn't working though.

Not a bad view.

Almost all the buildings in town are hotel rooms, shops, or restaurants.

Many people also visit the town for the day for a fee.

The Prisoner was filmed here in 1966-67.

"I am not a number. I am a free man!"

Patrick McGoohan, the main force behind the show, first filmed an episode of Danger Man here in 1960.

You can see the Amis Reunis stone boat next to the Portmeirion Hotel.

The Dwyryd River's estuary changes dramatically depending on the tide.

You could walk to the other side of the estuary during low tide.

Don't get stuck out there!

The best restaurant at Portmeirion is in the hotel. The poor hotel staff was having to service the dining area and a wedding simultaneously while we were there.

A slice of Cinque Terre in Wales!

Caernarfon

 

Caernarfon is the cultural capital of Wales and the city in which you are most likely to hear Welsh in Wales.

The Welsh pie is massive at the inn. We met some nice Welsh locals there, one of whom's favorite movie is Deliverance. Hopefully that's not what most Welsh think the U.S. is like...

Caernarfon is also surrounded by walls, with an Anglican church built into one.

Caernarfon Castle is the main attraction in town.

The area was originally home to the Ordovices, a Celtic tribe. Romans subjugated the area around 80 A.D. and built a fort called Segontium to consolidate control there.

From the 4th to 11th century Caernarfon was part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd after the fall of Roman Britain.

The castle is strategic because it dominates the Menai Strait between mainland Wales and the Isle of Anglesey.

William the Conquerer attempted to control the area around Caernarfon by building a motte-and-bailey castle there, but never completed it. The Norman invasion of Wales failed, so the Welsh maintained their independence until the 13th century.

After Llwelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, refused to pay homage to Edward I, the English conquered Gwynedd and constructed Caernarfon Castle.

Henry VII's grandfather was a Welsh nobleman, so when the House of Tudor ascended to the English throne, Welsh rebellious tendencies died down and the castle fell into disuse.

The castle is now used to invest the Prince of Wales.

David Lloyd George was a MP for Caernarfon boroughs. His parents moved to Manchester for work, but he was raised with a Welsh identity and spoke Welsh.

One exhibit in the castle was about getting into the mind of Edward I (literally).

Another was about Eleanor of Castle, Edward's wife, who gave birth at Caernarfon Castle.

A Game of... Crowns.

The Museum of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers is also in the castle.

They are known for their Flash, used to keep long greasy hair off of uniforms.

The Fusiliers fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. This sketch is by Lieutenant from the unit, drawn in 1775.

The diary of LTC Frederick Mackenzie, detailing a rebel fort on New York Island, from 1776. The Welsh Fusiliers were never defeated during the American Revolutionary War. None of the Welsh prisoners of war gave into American offers of $20 and one hundred acres of land to join their side either.

The French Eagle surrendered to the Fusiliers when the British captured Martinique in 1809

The Bell Gun, a Russian field gun captured during the Crimean War.

Weapons captured during the Boxer Rebellion

Every battalion in the Royal Welch Fusiliers has a goat "member of the Regiment." The "Goat Major," an NCO, cares for him. The first goat is recorded to have served during the American Revolutionary War.