Here There and Everywhere

British Isles: Wales and Carnaefon Castle

We don’t have any activities until we leave for Castle Carnaefon. I woke early, dressed, went up to Explorer Lounge for sunrise and to catch up on e-mails. AdventureMan caught up with me, we went to breakfast, then to the spa. I filled out a Viking request for assessment and delivered it to guest services on my way to the spa.

I’m the only one in the pool for the first half hour,  and feel great about exercising without feeling watched. The water is cooler than the first day and more comfortable. AdventureMan joins me, we visit and recover on the lounge chairs, then I return to the room and AdventureMan follows later. We take it easy, read up on Carnaefon Castle, and eat lunch early, then meet up with our group at one. Actually, there are three groups going.

This photo above haunts me. The house is so vulnerable, so low to the water, it would look as if it would flood with a bare rise in the water. In the right lower corner is a small boat with people in it approaching the island. You can see there is an inlet on the riverside of the island where a small boat might be moored and protected somewhat from the vagaries of the river. The house looks sturdily built, but so isolated! So vulnerable!

It is a lovely drive. We have a great guide, who gives us a brief history of Wales, and a lot of history about the castle, which is one of the earliest castles in the British Isles, huge, and is the castle of the Prince of Wales. We start in the kitchen, which had some system of running water, huge fire pits, separate rooms for a variety of functions; the speculation is that the kitchen fed around 600 people daily. 

Below is the old kitchen area – inside and outside. It is hard for me to imagine feeding 600 people at least one meal a day every day of the year from this kitchen area.

The walls are huge; high and thick, with arrow slits. We are told that there was little crime within the walls because those caught committing theft or assault were simply thrown out or executed.

AventureMan found a comrade-in-arms in the Castle Museum and they had a long talk, then his new friend called his friend at the Fusiliers Museum and sent AdventureMan there, where he had another really good war-fighting related conversation, while I explored the castle walls and functional areas. I tried to get up the stairs, but there were groups blocking the way, so I had a coffee and hit the gift shop, then sat on a quiet bench in the old kitchen area, waiting to meet up with AdventureMan and the group.

Back on board, we had some of our Greenwich wine and our Herrod’s cheese and sat out on our sunny balcony reviewing our experiences until time to meet up with our friends for dinner. After dinner, we walked the upper decks, chatted with some of the other guests and then returned to the room to prepare for tomorrow’s visit to the ancient Roman city of Chester.

Here is what bothers me. I can say I’ve visited Wales; that might sound impressive. The truth is that today we spent about eight hours in Wales, mostly in the harbor, on the bus, in a historic castle, and then on the bus coming back. There is something in me that does not think this really counts as “visiting” Wales. I have a Welsh friend. I would have loved to have seen more of the country with her; I would have loved to walk the country, speak with the people, eat the food, live through a winter in a small Welsh town. I think the expat in me goes deep. An eight-hour span of time barely begins to touch the surface of a country with a history and culture like Wales. It almost feels disrespectful.

December 31, 2025 Posted by intlxpatr | Adventure, British Isles Viking Jupiter, Travel | Caernafon Castle, England, europe, History, Travel, Wales | Leave a comment