Surreal Portmeirion

Portmeirion is truly surreal. It looks one part Hollywood Hills, two parts Italian, one part Buddhist, and half Dr. Seuss. The private homes here are the work of a Welsh architect and are most famous for being the set of the 1960's TV show The Prisoner. The place is difficult to describe, so I'll leave it to the pictures. 

I passed this archway on my way to and from the train station. The warped wood, mixed stone, and clinging garden combined in a manner that struck me as the perfect example of quaint rural British beauty. 

By train I made my way out of Wales to Chester, back in England. 

Harlech Castle

Harlech Castle looks impregnable, but was in fact captured so many times that it is nicknamed the 'Castle of Lost Causes'. It is hard to imagine the force that would be able to overcome the steep rock hill, much less the high walls above it. Even from the train station the castle dominated the skyline.

I loved the remains of the chimney. Something about the cutaway round stone spire was striking.

This was another tower not meant for those uncomfortable with heights.

The contrast between the courtyard and the seascape beyond the walls was so great that looking through the doorways and windows seemed like looking at paintings, or into Narnia.

Mist hung on the mountains in the other direction.

Beside the castle was an odd statue of a king bearing the body of his dead nephew. 

From Harlech I took the train to the bizarre Utopian community of Portmeirion.

Conwy

Conwy castle towers over the town it protected.

The walk through the castle and up its eight massive towers is not for those with a fear of heights.

I love the understated signs in Britain:

The towers overlook the shore and the contemporaneous walls around the town.

From the far side of the mostly intact wall, the view is almost as good, and now includes the castle.

Near the shore was the smallest home in Britain, which actually belonged to a quite tall fisherman. 

Also in town is an Elizabethan townhouse. It is supposed to be a major attraction, but for whatever reason I am far less interested in old buildings that wouldn't hold up to a siege.

From Conwy I passed through Bangor yet again to return for another night in Caernarfon. While at the hostel I had a short panic when I thought I had lost my key to the room safe, though eventually I found it had simply been deep within my pocket.

Beaumaris Castle

In the morning I took the first series of buses up to the Isle of Anglesey. The route took us through Bangor and Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. I know it looks like I slammed my face into the keyboard repeatedly in the middle of typing, but that is that town's actual name. The sign across the bus station was nearly as long as the building.

My destination was Beaumaris castle, the largest of Edward I's castles commanding Northern Wales. It pretty much looks like the Platonic form of a castle. 

From there I bused back to Bangor and on to Conwy.