Today’s escapades began in Glastonbury. This is a city shrouded in legend as it reportedly contains the grave of King Arthur and many of the stories surrounding him take place in its environs.
As I walked the streets of Glastonbury, I was struck by two things.
One: Glastonbury was a strange mixture of spirituality and paganism. Outside of the abbey were a lot of shops selling mysticism and the abbey was a place of faith.
Two: I finally pegged the item that had seemingly been missing from this trip: guided tours. On all of my previous international outings, we had a plethora of tours to learn about the area, while this tour had largely left us to our own devices. From doing some research, that seems to be limited to this specific tour and also seems to be due to the fact that a lot of venues seem to have foregone guided tours in favor of downloading one via a QR code.
Not that it makes it any less fun. It’s just different.
I opted to wander around Glastonbury Abbey. I needed far more than the hour of free time we had to explore this place (not to mention some of the other spots of interest). The ruins were beautiful and the grave of Arthur really makes one wonder as to how much truth is in his legend.
But all too soon it came to an end and we were back on the road to the spa town of Bath.
Ruled by Rome for a period of time, the Romans had decided to transform this city into a duplicate of Rome and set up their own Roman baths (hence, the city’s name). These are the original baths and not a replica, so I was looking at some serious history dating back to the 6th century. Now this was like the tours I was used to as I was given a device that would discuss the exhibits I was looking at with the press of a few buttons.
I marveled at the engineering genius of the Romans who had arranged for water to fill the baths. Even today, the hot springs continue to be pumped into the long defunct baths. But this place was more than just a place to soak. The baths truly were a precursor to the spas of today. There were gymnasiums, saunas, and places to obtain massages. There were even separate quarters for men and women.
After exploring the baths, I took a walk around the main drag and viewed the park gardens, the river, and enjoyed some live music.
Before I knew it, we were back on the road again. Our final destination was Cardiff, Wales where we would be staying at the Mercure Holland. I was given a room that felt more like a suite with a luscious view of the skyline. However, traffic and construction had delayed our arrival and I had little time to enjoy the room before escaping to enjoy the night’s optional activity.
For our bonus activity, we visited an eatery called the Cornerstone where we would be treated to a night of Welsh entertainment.
Music is a big part of Welsh culture, so we were treated to a night of harp music and song which were fitted around a three course meal. Dinner consisted of a delectable goat cheese salad, lamb and mint pie with green beans and roasted potatoes, and capped with a stellar whiskey tart.
The singers were in fine fettle, often singing in the native Welsh language. I learned that “Deck the Halls” had its origins in Wales and was even treated to a comedy song about goats as well as a stellar cover of Tom Jones’ “Delilah”. We returned to the hotel where I needed all the rest I could get as we would have an early start for a long day of travel and adventures
Chris' Corner 