Pam Cymru?

"Pam Cymru?" means "Why Wales?" in Welsh.

 

Well, I'll tell you why.

 

Look at this castle!  If you look closely at the flags, you will see that one of them is the Welsh flag (with white and green fields and a red dragon) and the other one is the Marriott flag. That's right!  This is actually a hotel!

 

 

And it's the hotel that we stayed at in Wales.

 

There was a little church there...

 

and a pond...

 

This is NOT our hotel.  It's Chepstow Castle.

 

Built around 1100, it's the oldest surviving stone castle in Great Britain!

 

It sits right on the River Wye.  Why?  I don't know.

 

 

It doesn't have a roof any more.  Why?  I don't know.

 

What else is there to say?  I don't know.

 

It was a beautiful old castle.

 

This castle also has the oldest known preserved wood doors.

 

They are from the 12th century.

 

They are pretty cool!

 

It was fun to wander around through the castle, because there were a lot of towers to climb and different pathways to take.

 

The castle was old and mysterious and dark when you went inside of the rooms.

 

Not far from there we hiked the hill above Tintern Abbey to a place called Devil's Pulpit.

 

 

And the thing about getting to Devil's Pulpit...is you have to go through a TON of mud.

 

After we got our shoes and jeans covered in mud, my dad decided he wanted to climb out to the Devil's Pulpit.

 

Here he is, the Devil himself...with Tintern Abbey in the background.

 

And here it is up close.  It was also built in the 1100s for an order of Cistercian Monks.  Why?  I don't know.

 

We also went on a different hike called the "365 steps."  Why?  I don't know.  We counted, and it was more than 365 steps.

 

 

But it was pretty...

 

And we got this view!

 

 

So I guess if you want one good reason WHY to go to Wales -

 

Wye not?