A Year Abroad: Day Four. Caerphilly.

This morning I jumped on a train and hopped it to Caerphilly. It's a lovely little town about 20 minutes from Cardiff, surrounded by green rolling hills. It's also home to the second largest castle in the UK, after Windsor castle.

The weather was typical UK weather, windy which gave it a bit of a chill, but not too cold or raining. The castle grounds are massive! When I got off the train, there was a small, quaint town, and then down a hill in the centre is a massive castle!

Caerphilly can trace its original back to Romans, who built a fort there in 75AD. Remains of it were discovered in 1968, but have since been completely destroyed.

Inside the castle is beautiful. The lawns have been kept manicured and the castle itself has been kept in fairly good condition, well what remains of it. Construction began on 11 April, 1268, by Gilbert de Clare. It was originally used as a fortress, then as a prison, then wasn't used at all. During the Welsh civil war, the government ordered all castles destroyed. The back section of the castle was blow up, but most of it still remains. For hundreds of years after the civil war, the castle was not retained. In the 1930's and 1940's, during the Great Depression, to stimulate the economy and employ local labour, the castle was refurbished and made into a tourist attraction.

It was awesome to see, especially as there were lots of people there, so I had the freedom to move around without disturbing anyone. Not that I usually would anyway...

I then went into Caerphilly and visited the local markets. I bought some yum yum raspberry and almond cake from a self-owned business lady. And because I was Australian and had no idea what the cake was (it was wrapped in pastry, it's kind of hard to explain) and there were only the corner pieces left (which are actually my favourite) and because she's Welsh (and I have the impression now that they're the loveliest people in the world), she gave me two pieces! Score!

I then trekked it home and walked to Cardiff Bay, about 20 minutes away, where the Cardiff sun and beach festival is currently on and then went shopping. I just love tweed! And then to the National Museum of Wales. This place was awesome! Wooly mammoths and dinosaurs and old rocks, pieces from the oldest ones in Europe, Britain and Wales actually. It was a good unwinding experience.

The castle

The wall sits at a 10 degree axis to the ground. No one's really sure why, maybe due to the civil war bombings, or when they drained the lake, the soft ground