| And of course,
there’s chocolate. Including a 5 kilogram Dairy Milk bar. Now that’s what
I call a souvenir!
Adult tickets
cost £9.00, tickets for children are £6.80, students and seniors
pay £7.20. Children under 4 enter free. A popular destination, it
is advisable to book your visitor tickets in advance as entrance cannot
be guaranteed without pre-booking.
Britain is renowned
for its history. The island’s involvement in wars, politics and religion
fills many a text book. But often another sort of history is overlooked
– that of a more musical nature.
When people
think of Liverpool, a certain mop-haired quartet automatically comes to
mind. For any Beatles fan, or even fans of music in general, a trip to
Liverpool should be high on your list of places to visit. Being under
the age of 30 put me in the group of people too young to remember the rage,
but I’d always been interested in knowing more about the Fab Four and how
it all came to be.
The Magical
Mystery Tour answered any questions I might have had, and told me more
than I could ever want to know about the Beatles and their history. The
tacky yellow and blue bus fills up with tourists and rambles around the
city, stopping at the major Beatles spots of interest. Without giving too
much away, I can tell you that it takes you to the birthplace of at least
one of the Beatles and the teenage home of another.
Other stops
include Strawberry Field and Penny Lane. The whole tour is narrated by
the driver and guide, who are both friends of a certain surviving Beatle.
Their narrative does more than just explain these places; it brings them
to life with stories and details of why the songs were written.
The tour ends
on famous Mathew Street, home to the Cavern Club, where the Beatles played
almost 300 live shows. Showing your ticket here will get you a free souvenir.
The Magical
Mystery Tour runs daily and costs £11.95 per person. It leaves from
The Beatles Story on Albert Dock.
The Beatles
Story is a museum dedicated to the world famous music group. It houses
some of their belongings, including John Lennon’s glasses, and numerous
other memorabilia. Videos and photographs chart the group’s progress over
time and the gift shop will empty any true Beatles fan’s pockets. Admission
is £7.95 for adults and £4.95 for children.
While you’re
at Albert Dock, on the River Mersey, be sure to check out the floating
green map of the United Kingdom. It was once used on TV weather broadcasts,
and the weather man would jump from one area to the next while relaying
the forecast.
Another sight
worth seeing is The Philharmonic Pub. Opened in the late 1890’s, The Phil,
as it’s affectionately referred to, sits across from the Philharmonic Hall.
Likely the most posh, sophisticated and stately place you’ll ever consume
a pint, The Phil’s most famous seats are elaborate, marble toilets and
urinals.
The floors
and main horseshoe shaped bar are covered with mosaics, lending it an air
of artistry and magnificence. The bar is further decorated with bunches
of glass grapes, stained glass and a giant golden eagle.
Two small,
wood paneled rooms at the back of the pub are named for Brahms and Liszt.
A third room, the Grande Lounge, boasts crystal chandeliers and skylights
made of stained glass.
Wales
Wales is often
referred to as “Land of Castles”. One of its most intriguing and
architecturally impressive castles is Caernarfon. Built in the late 1200’s
during Edward I’s invasion of Wales, Caernarfon Castle sits on the shoreline
at the southern end of the Menai Strait. Not intended to be a defense base,
the castle was built as a throne of power –and as a symbol of English authority
over the Welsh.
A medieval
wall, part of the castle’s defense system, surrounds the small town. Although
it is not open to the general public, asking around is likely to produce
someone (who knows someone) with a set of keys to the locked gate. The
owner of our hostel arranged for a local to let us in and guide us around
the top of the ancient stone wall. After climbing a crumbling rock staircase,
we were rewarded with spectacular views of the castle, the town, and the
flat water of the strait.
About two stories
high, the remaining sections of the wall are only wide enough to walk single
file. A waist high stone railing makes it perfectly safe to wander along
the bumpy wall. Towers located at intervals around the wall are now
deteriorating, and peering through the eroding windows gives you a sense
of what it might have been like to be a guard on duty.
A place of
interest pointed out by our guide was a simple pub that used to be a house
of ill repute used mainly by sailors. Ironically, directly behind it sits
a nunnery.
Entering the
castle itself seems more like walking into a rectangular arena. The majority
of the castle remains form the perimeter, while the central, inner area
is mainly empty. Lush green grass covers the grounds, emphasizing the gray
of the castle’s stone.
Distinctive
of Caernarfon Castle are its octagonal towers. The Eagle Tower, Chamberlain
Tower, Black Tower and Queen’s Tower were all built on more than one level
and provided accommodation for residents of high standing. Some contained
private chapels, several bedrooms, and most had views of the water. Exploring
the castle involves a lot of walking, the majority of it upwards. Climbing
up skinny, winding rock stairways is the only way to reach the towers and
appreciate the grandiosity of the fortress. The towers are connected by
walls similar to the ones that surround the town.
Inside the
central area on ground level, looking upward provides you only with a view
of high walls, and the sky beyond them. A secluded area, the town and its
surroundings are invisible from the interior of the castle.
After returning
to our hostel from the castle, the owner took us downstairs to share with
us a fascinating discovery. Less than ten years ago a medieval arch was
discovered in the hostel’s basement, and it is believed to be a portion
of a tunnel system used for escaping from the castle in times of danger.
Many believe
that a local tailor extended the name for the sole purpose of putting the
village on the map in the 1800’s. Although it’s hard to fathom, the elongated
string of letters actually has a meaning. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
means The Church of St. Mary in a hollow of white hazel near the rapid
whirlpool and church of St. Tysilio near a red cave.
Close to the border
separating England and Wales lays one of the island’s most spectacular
treasures. The first Cistercian foundation in Wales, the monastic ruins
of Tintern are simply breathtaking. Set upon brilliant lush green grass
and surrounded by a deep green forest, the gray stone is prominent in its
remote location. The River Wye runs behind the ruins. It once played an
important role in the survival of the Abbey’s occupants.
Walter de Clare,
Lord of Chepstow founded the isolated Abbey in 1131. Little remains of
the original Abbey, and what you see today is a fusion of buildings that
span 400 years. Some sections are still standing, perhaps not entirely
intact, but their shells tell of Tintern’s majestic past. Several of the
Abbey’s stones have found new homes and now dot the pristine grass. Wandering
among the ruins, one’s gaze is often drawn upward, for the tallest buildings
seem to be the best preserved.
It’s not exactly
the type of beach you see plastered on the cover of vacation magazines,
but the area is full of nature and science. When the tide is out, you can
walk for miles towards the sea. It’s hard to believe that water covers
the huge area that you’re walking on, until you look down.
The brown sand
is full of treasures deposited by the high tide – razor shells, parts of
fish, crabs and even a sack of shark eggs were only a few of the things
we discovered on our walk. Shipwrecks dot the sand and water here as well
– the wreck of Helvetia, although not much more than the outline of the
ship, is still visible.
One of Gower
Peninsula’s famous landmarks is Worms Head – a long thin piece of land
just off shore. It rises and lengthens in just the right places to make
it look exactly like a giant worm.
Heading the
opposite direction from Worms Head will lead you to a scientifically rich
area to explore. Huge rocks trap the water and sea life in still pools.
Clinging to the rocks are anemones, whelks, mussels and starfish of various
colors. Farther inland on the sand lie two dead jellyfish – both easily
larger than I am. Their rubbery bodies jiggle as the wind passes over them.
Don’t get caught
here when the tide comes back in. The water covers the rocks and sand swiftly,
and it’s a long swim back to shore.
The following
is a list of articles that Dawnelle has written for the magazine:
To contact Dawnelle
Click
Here
Return
To Magazine Index |
