Friday, September 15, 2023

2023 England - September - Day 10 - Wales (Pembroke Castley, Tenby)

 It is Monday, September 11th.  Our trip is fast coming to a close.  It has been a wonderful trip to see parts of England and Wales that we’ve never seen before.  Everyday has been eventful and memorable for its own reasons.  Today, we decided to drive to see Pembroke Castle.  And this castle did not let us down.  Before heading out in the car, however, Pat and I did our normal morning walk to discover food options.  We found a Co-Op market nearby and a bakery that was pretty good too.  So we bought breakfast supplies and returned them, as usual, to our wives who were getting ready for the day.  The walk was about a 5 to 10 minute walk to get to the store.  Nice.

Pembroke castle is a castle that sits close to the sea.  It is one of many important castles in the history of Wales.  They talk a lot about a knight named William Marshal, who they claim was the greatest knight in Wales.  The history is immense of which I’m not going to go into as I cannot remember it all so well.  :-)  I’ll let the pictures of the castle do the talking below.  We did take a tour by a guide that was free to take while we were there.  That was fun, he was fun in his approach to sharing information.  Nice visit it was for us.

On our way home, randomly, we decided to go check out another castle in a town called Tenby.  Upon arriving there, we were shocked how cute and quaint this town was on the bay of water that we were seeing.  I would have to say that the town of Tenby was probably the highlight of all the towns that we visited.  The castle, well, there was not much there.  But the view of the bay, the town, boats, etcetera was incredible there.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking.  Pat and I got separated from Denise and Lisa a few times.  Once we had to move the car from the free, very nice parking, to a paid lot close by.  Together, we decided that we would walk up to the castle and tell the girls to come up where we were.  They were in shops and stuff checking things out.  As we approached the climb to the castle, there was an option to head to the beach and there were toilets there.  Pat said he needed to use one.  As we arrived to the toilets, they required 40 pence to get in.  We did not have 40p.  But you could use your phone in a contactless way to pay.  Pat got his phone out and went in.  I was slow and for some reason I thought there was two doors for the men’s bathroom.  Pat had gone to the left, so I went to the right.  I paid, went in, did what I needed to do and came out.  I was out before Pat.  But as I waited, I noticed a lady coming out of the door that Pat had gone in.  I looked up and sure enough, he had gone in the ladies bathroom.  While I stood there, two ladies approached the bathroom to enter and noticed this man coming out.  They began to laugh and then Pat realized what he had done.  He thought it was odd that there were no urinals where he was at.  We have laughed and laughed over this many times.  Stuff happens all the time here.

Lastly, I believe our best meal occurred in Tenby for dinner.  At one point, Pat and I were returning to the High Street to find the girls when we passed a restaurant that smelled amazing.  I even turned to Pat and said, wow, that smells awesome.  It was overlooking the marina with chairs on the sidewalk.  When we got back into town, Denise and Lisa (and us too) were ready for dinner.  So Pat and I suggested the Italian place that we had passed.  They agreed and off we went to it.  It turns out this place is run by a guy from Florence, Italy.  And all his staff was Italian that we met.  The food was AMAZING and plentiful.  I had delicious Carbonara and Denise had Lasagna.  We ate outside and enjoyed the cool comfort of the bay and view of the beach as we watch people stroll by.  Such a great way to end the day.

Some pictures:


Enjoying Tenby seaside restaurant.


The church near the Co-Op market that we walked to daily from The Cowshed.


Another picture of the church near where stayed.


Interesting clock in front of a little church on our path to the market.


Statue of William Marshal.


Doves were everywhere in the Pembroke Castle.  I think we invaded their home.


A cavern that you could take stairs down into from the Pembroke Castle.


A pond outside the castle.  It was a real pretty view.


A monument near the Tenby castle.


The bat and beach at Tenby.


Many cannons were on display overlooking the bay at Tenby.


The entrance to Pembroke Castle.


Squinty eyed Tim and smiley Denise taking a selfie at the castle.


Nice shot of part of the castle.  Apparently the day before they had a real large crowd of ‘Christians’ having some function here…per the guide.


The castle entrance from inside the castle.


Dinner time in the castle.  They had some of these mockups as you visited parts of the whole castle.


A picture of a picture of the castle.


Our guide….


Pat, I and another fellow were asked to participate in a demonstration describing a time when one person out of three had to be sacrificed and I was the sacrificial lamb1


Looking up one of the large towers.  At various levels, they used to have floors built across hat were used.


View of part of the castle from highest point.


You can see a large map that you could walk on that is placed in the courtyard showing all the castles in Wales that were key in its defense.  So many there are….


Happy travelers…




A nice shot of the whole castle.  Unfortunately the sun was in a crummy place for the photo.  Oh well.


Every restaurant in Wales accommodates dogs.  You have nothing for cats or other pets.  Just dogs.  And if you don’t have a dog on a leash, well, you are not Welsh!


There was a path around the castle at its base that Denise and I walked.  This was the trailhead of it.


Royal mail box.


In Tenby, there were many corridors like this with beautiful flowers.


Colorful housing in Tenby.


Sorry…I don’t recall what the fortress was on this small island near Tenby.  I have no name for it.  But you have to swim now to get to it!


The path way to the Tenby point and castle.


The Tenby castle…not much to it now.


The colorful town of Tenby.



The port at Tenby.


Excited for dinner.


Our plates….YUM!!!



I forgot to bring our dog.  But glad to see there was a menu for it if I had.


Cool door.


Our parking lot.  Cool castle-like wall nearby.


Back to our flat…The Cowshed in Lladybie!


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