Patti and Wayne's Grand Adventure: A Wales of a Good Time, Part 4

Thursday, July 5, 2018

We got up and on the road early today, as we had a big day planned. In fact it turned out to be 243 miles by the time we got back to David's house.

We started by driving to the walled city of Tenby. The castle and walls were built in the 13th century. Inside the walls is a really cool, tightly packed little town.

At the port we got on a boat, headed to Caldey Island.

We went past the ruins of the castle on our way

This is the rescue boat, ready to be deployed to help with emergencies at sea

We arrived on the island on one of the sand beaches.

The post office and Museum for Caldey Island. This island has be inhabited sine the Stone Age and has been home to various orders of monks since Celtic times. It is now owned by monks of the Cistercian Order.

One of the many chapels on the island

Either the tower or the building is leaning.

We walked out to the opposite side of the island to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse

The view from that end of the island. Besides the natural beauty and hiking on the island, the monks that live there make and sell chocolate and Perfumes.

We then headed back to the boat, stopping at the beach so Wayne could check the water temp.

The tide had changed, so instead of returning to the dock at the harbor, we ended up at the beach.

Next we headed to the most western point of Wales, St. Davids. It is the smallest city in the UK in terms of size and population. To be a city in the 16th century, you must have a cathedral. It was originally a monastic community. Between 645 and 1097 in was raided by many, including the Vikings. It survived and housed many of the highly sought after religious, intellectual minds of that time. The cathedral was started in 1181 and is still in use and is beautiful.

This 13th century Bishops Palace is maintained and open to the public for tours. We got there too late to go in, as usual.

This is the celiling of one of the wings of the cathedral

We have been in many churches, abbeys and cathedrals on this trip, this is the first time I have heard the organ actually being played. It was wonderful.