Roman Ruins, Two Castles and an Abbey…Oh My!

I think we packed a week’s worth of activities into our Saturday agenda!  Our first stop was the Roman ruins in the town of Caerleon, located in Newport.  The Romans occupied Britain from 43 AD to the early 5th Century, bringing their customs and pastimes with them.  Every Roman city needed an amphitheater, and this one is remarkably well preserved.  Of course, the Romans loved their brutal gladiator games, and many took place here to entertain the 2nd Legion of Augustus who were stationed here. We pictured the soldiers munching on flamingo tongue or sheep brains, some of their favorite snacks at sporting events, as they cheered on their favorite fighters.  Yum! 

The amphitheater housed an altar for offerings to the god Nemesis.  I jumped right in with my coin.  Lots of things have been my nemesises (nemesi?) over the years!

Since the 12th Century, the amphitheater was thought by some to be “King Arthur’s Court,” and the site of the legendary round table.  There is little evidence to prove this — or whether Arthur was a real person at all — but the legend continues.

The museum recreates a Roman bath, complete with the typical tepidarium, frigidarium, swimming area, and exercise track.  Roman ingenuity shone here, with engineering systems designed to heat the water and constantly circulate and replenish it.  

The museum curators demonstrated their sense of humor.  The “loo” surprised me.  Yes, it was operating!

Now that I had “taken care of business,” off we went to Raglan Castle.  Wales is home to 427 castles, and NO, we are not visiting all of them! 

Princes and noblemen built most of them for protection against attack from the English.  Later castles served as ostentatious homes for wealthy families.

Raglan is one of the grandest of Welsh castles.  It was built in three phases, the earliest portion in 1435 by William ap Thomas, the “Blue knight of Gwent.”  The word “ap” means “son of.”  The Welsh had no surnames until well into the 1700s.  Believe me, that makes it VERY difficult for family tree researchers like me.

Lucky us, we arrived on a day visited by historical re-enactors.  This visitor particularly pleased us.

Victorian street vendors tried their best to sell their wares, but I wasn’t buying.

Noel told me there were beautiful views from the 5-story tower, so naturally I did the climb…twice!

LOOK!  My first sighting of a Welsh corgi!  They are surprisingly somewhat rare in Wales.  I think Queen Elizabeth whisked them all away to Buckingham palace!

Then on to Tintern Abby, built in 1131 by Cistercian monks.  As with many of the ancient buildings we visited, it originally stood as a simple building and then successive inhabitants added on or refurbished with more elaborate structures.

Our final stop of the day was Chepstow Castle, the oldest surviving fortification built after the Roman occupation.  It was built in 1067, but improved upon by subsequent owners.  One of them, William Marshall, was the first to create round towers or “keeps” to ward off enemies.

Obviously from the previous video, my brain was castle-muddled by this time, and we headed for home to prepare for more adventures to come (a hint…one of them was the visit I longed for most!). Stay tuned.