Old wall and old walks in Conwy

You can see from this picture how close to the harbour the castle is.  The king could pull up in his boat and walk up some steps to his royal chambers.

Today was our day off, so we slept in before heading out to investigate the old Conwy Castle which stands looking over the town and harbour.

The castle is open inside , but you can still climb up some of the eight towers to get fantastic views of the town and harbour.

You are a long way above the harbour when you are in those towers.

Looking back over the open castle inner areas and the town beyond

We were lucky to be up the tower as the tide came in, and could acutally see it happening as the water was pushed up the narrow inlet into the wider opening behind. Whirlpools and Eddies formed and you could see the moving line of foam as it went with the current. The boats which were resting on the sandy bottom of the estuary lifted and floated before our eyes.  A great spectacle of nature seen from a historic man made spectacle.   That was a real treat.

You can see the whirling water on the right hand side closer to the shore, and the line of foam closer to the left of the shot that moved along as the tide came in. Only a few minutes ealier these boats were all on the sand. 

Once we had had our fill of climbing towers and soaking in the history we decided to walk around the walls of the town. The wall basically encloses the town, and you can walk almost all of it, so off we set. You can see how the walls entrance on the model in the picture below. I took a couple of photos from the far corner away from the castle showing the walls extending back to the castle and down to the sea. 

Lots of birds are right at home in the many nods and crannies in the town wall. 

After a bit of a stop for fish and chips sitting in the cold wind looking at the sea we did a tour of the main streets,and then a final look at an old merchant house which has been restored and is open to the public. Plas Mawr  was built between 1576 and 1585 by a welsh gentleman. It was an interesting insight into the times. The meat hanging in the larder was a  bit of an eye opener and I would have loved to actually see the kitchen in operation with the great huge fire cooking a roast.