Today is our last day in Cardiff so we had to get up early and get our bags out for the bus. It is always a hectic morning but I am still in work mode and not really sleeping in so I had plenty of time to stuff everything back in. I am sadly going to need another suitcase before the trip is done.

First stop this morning is the Cardiff castle. It sits right in town not far from our first hotel. We had seen it from the outside but I was quite surprised with how big it was inside the wall. We had a tour of the very ornately Victorian decorated manor house portion of the castle. The Third Marquess of Bute was very fond of the medieval origins of the castle and had it elaborately remodeled in a very romanticized style. It is way over the top.

The smoking room also known as the time room was all images of seasons, zodiac signs, sun and aging.

The children’s play room was done in fables and fairytales. but not all of them seem to be child friendly.

The long hall was also over the top but it didn’t seem so jarring. Wales has hosted several dignitaries in this room, including Obama.

The Marquess bedroom was in the same style. It did have an attached bath which was quite a luxury back in the day.

The tower also had a garden. Sadly it had to be removed when the water started coming in the rooms below.

The old part of the castle the round keep was built in the 12th century when the welsh were finally subdued after the Norman conquest. The outer walls were built and changed throughout the medieval and Tudor time periods. Up until the Marquess of Bute obtained it and then his son went crazy with the Victorian renovations.

The castle was also a bomb shelter during WWII. It wasn’t really tunnels but the walls had an undercroft so people could shelter in the walls in the castle. They say that 1800 people would come in during bomb raids.

After we left Cardiff we headed out to St Fagan’s National Museum of History. It had both museum pieces and buildings that had either been moved to the facility or constructed onsite to resemble primitive structures. The structures went from the ice age up until mid 1900s.

We primarily focused on Rhys ap Thomas’ bed. Rhys ap Thomas is believed to have struck the killing blow to King Richard thereby opening the way for Henry Tudor to become King. The bed was made for him and it is carved with his military successes. The killing of King Richard is in the foot of the bed.

Wandered through the museum for a moment then went out to see the structures and grab lunch. Supposedly there was a fish and chips stand but after navigating our way to it sadly it was closed. We were on the far end of the park so we went in to see the structures in that area- the Tudor church, Tudor merchant house and the Viking long house. The church was painted as it would have been in the day but that always makes it look a little Disney. There was a wall painting of Jesus with all sorts of tools around him and an Irish harp. Not sure what that was about but it looks like some of the tools are torturing him. There wasn’t much to the merchant house but the long house was pretty good.

We made a quick stop in Carmarthan to see the gatehouse, which is all that is standing of their castle and a merchant meeting and court room that is over a local bar.

Carmarthan is where Edmund Tudor, Margaret Beaufort’s husband and father of Henry VII died. He was taken captive by the Yorks in August and was being held at the castle when he died November 1, 1456. The Yorks say he died of the plague but he was a potential Lancaster claimant to the throne so there is a high probability that he was killed. Nathan are resident welsh historian is pretty sure he was.

On our way back to the bus we stopped at the merchant meeting and courtroom. Julian who had talked about the Welsh military had spoken of one of Wellington’s majors who had turned out not to be a great person and the only commander to not get a title after Waterloo and he was connected to this town and the merchant guild so it had his portrait on the wall.

After the brief stop we headed off to our new hotel. We had dinner in the hotels dinning room. We set with Micheal and discussed his early guiding career and about him working with Phillippa Langley on finding Richard III’s bones. He helped her write her book and worked on the movie The Lost King. I had spoken to him about it on the last tour because I thought she came off a little crazy in the movie but she was happy with her portrayal. The university not so much and they sued the film company. Suit has been settled so he was happy that was all over. It was a nice dinner and a good way to end out the day.