In ports where we stay longer than a weekend, our work schedule is 2 or 3 long days on, and then 2 days off. We joke that we don't sleep in on our free days; if anything we get up even earlier than we do on work days because we don't want to miss a minute of our opportunity to explore new places.
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| Coffee and pastries (“pastel de nata”) at a Portuguese cafe started our day. |
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| I did find my castle. A thousand years old! Right in the middle of town in a lovely park setting. |
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| The Welsh dragon, symbol of protection or defender. |
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| Random street scene on our 3 km walk to the castle. |
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| Wonderful architecture. |
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| National museum. |
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| And lunch of fish and chips and a beer at a two-hundred year old pub. A “new” building relative to the castle just beyond! We met a group of local businessmen here (who admitted to having had a few pints before they met us) and chatted about many things. Coal mining, and that Wales is actually a rather poor area outside of where we were in city centre, and our Galeon, and how many Spanish ships the British took at Waterloo (they were quite proud of the latter, but I reminded the em that it was still more than 100 years in our ship’s future) and more . |
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| And the interior; all I ever expected from an old pub! |
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| There was a LOT of public art. This one, honouring coal miners, was titled “from pit to port.” |
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| This elaborate building has, at various times in its life, been a train station, the harbourmasters office, and now owned by the Welsh Parliament, is open to the public as a museum. So much intricate detail on this building. There used to be a huge dock here; you can see the old lock mechanism and a footbridge that used to be the top of the lock. We met a guy at the pub who was the grandson of a local merchant mariner here, who told us the history. |
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| As coal ceased to be an important source, the port -- and in fact all of Wales -- faced a falling economy. Recently the area has been working to reinvent itself with some tourism. This photo has a piece of everything: the old train station, the ferris wheel showing the appeal to vacationers, and the old lock mentioned above. What had been the bed of the channel has been paved and is now a gathering place for summer concerts, street festivals, etc. |
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| A better view of the lock. |
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| This enigmatic piece of art was definitely my favourite. Viewed from one side it’s a wrecked boat; from the other, a human face with closed eyes. It honours merchant mariners lost during wartime. |
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| Nighttime, and nightlife, on the quay; lots of shops and restaurants. The shift to tourism seems to have been successful. |
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| Part of the city park around the old castle. |
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| Housing made from reused shipping containers; on our walk from the location where the ship was docked to the castle. |
