Conwy

[urbpan]

We drove up to Conwy (which we are assured is pronounced "conway") and found more castle-y stuff. What's up with that?




What's up with that is that Conwy has the most complete standing city walls in Europe. I have very little ability to understand British history, but suffice it to say, everyone was constantly killing everyone else. It seems that someone named Edward caused a lot of castles to be built in Wales in the 1200s, to protect some people from other people. It seemed to work pretty well, since here we are 800 years later and a lot of this stuff is still standing. The Conwy walls are 3/4 complete, making up almost a mile of wall, plus castle.


I love the fact that they have become rocky habitat for weeds and pigeons.




Nowadays it's pretty easy to come through the city wall.


In fact, you can drive right through--single file.


The best thing was when we realized we could actually go up onto the wall.


Rather nice view up there.


Morning rush hour in Conwy.


We spoke to a local merchant who suggested we go up on the wall. "You can look right down into people's gardens. Rather voyeuristic, really."


The railway and historic bridges are visible here.


Looking through the ancient window onto the present.




"Use the handrail, I invented it for a reason!"




A snapdragon enjoys the unfettered access to the sunlight (when there is sunlight).


A stunning view of the castle is probably wasted on these chimney-perched gulls.


At one corner of the city wall is the Smallest House in Great Britain.


The flag of Wales flies over the Carpark of Conwy.

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Nice! I spent most of a day in Wales a while back, part of a short but intense driving trip around the UK. Loved Conwy castle and environs a lot. The pic you posted of the bird flying out of the castle hole bit reminds me of how I almost got blinded by some sort of jay when I peeked into the hole it had just flown into and it flew back out in my face. Yay for glasses.

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

Beautiful walls toward the beginning, love the voyeur pics, and the colorful stuff at the end.

[bdot.livejournal.com]

i love the fact that the woman in front of the smallest house is wearing a traditional welsh hat! was she in traditional dress for a reason, or do many women wear the hat?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

She was there to draw people into paying a pound to stick their head into the house. That was the only hat like that I saw while I was there.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

you're killing me here! ;-P Sooo lovely. Imagine, there are actually people who actually get to actually LIVE WITH that view and all that history all the time! (sigh!)

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I thought the same thing. I feel like I could live with that view pretty happily. I'd like to see it in winter and see if I like it as much, without wildflowers sprouting from every rock surface.

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

The problem I'd have with the mild winters in Wales is how few hours of daylight there are at that lattitude.

The lushness of the vegetation is amazing--the wildflowers start sprouting really early in the year.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Wow, everything's so green! I was in Conwy in the dead of winter, still gorgeous then but I saw a lot of white! (Ice, that is...) Though you probably can't see too much of the ice in the pics I posted. It was bitter cold out so I took fewer pics than I'd have liked.

http://cowgrrl.livejournal.com/361215.html

[obie119.livejournal.com]

oh, that is great! I was in Conwy in 1998...looking at the town walls now, it reminds me of walking on the High Line in NYC - same general height and slight nosiness, but amusingly contrasting locations and scenery!

[alikander.livejournal.com]

Did you make it to the Welsh Mountain Zoo, just outside of Conwy?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Sorry! Only zoo I got to was Durrell Wildlife (Jersey Zoo).

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

I think there's more than 3/4 of the walls still there. I think the 3/4 is how much of the wall walkway they allow people on to. Man that town was cool.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

You are very lucky and wise to be building all of these memories. This series of pics is fantastic!

[weofodthignen]

I was there as a little girl but remember very little of it :-) Clearly we were prevented from finding out you could get up on the walls.

M