Dr. Eric Conway writes:
Today’s
itinerary was action-packed with a tour of the historic city of
Chester, England, a concert at the Chester Cathedral, and a drive to the
adjacent country of Wales, to tour the Welsh castle in Caernarfon, and group dinner in that country.
Janet
Sayers, our guide began a walking tour of Chester, which is perhaps one
of the oldest cities on the British Isle. Chester was once a city in
Caesar’s Roman Empire. Much of the city has been built on top of the
Roman structures and roads, however, one could still see remnants of the
ancient Roman city on this site including the ancient wall around the
city erected for protection of the inhabitants which still stands today.
Tourists can walk around the entire city, which is about two and 1/2
miles in length. We saw the Chester amphitheater where gladiators once
fought, as well as a stronghold room for protection of valuables - much
like a safe. After a thorough tour of the city given by our guide, we
quickly changed our clothes to leave for our concert and excursion into
Wales.
The
Chester Cathedral, another religious structure that was originally
Catholic, now transformed to a Protestant church, was the site of our
1 PM concert, over nine hundred years old. Our concert was well attended
for a mid-afternoon Friday performance. The priest on hand thanked the
choir for leading him and the community in worship. After our
performance, we drove to Wales, a country to the immediate west of
England.
The
United Kingdom is made of four different countries: England, Scotland,
Wales, and Northern Ireland. The republic of Ireland, or the southern
portion of the Irish Isle, where we had our layover in Dublin, broke
away from the United Kingdom in 1922. The official language of Wales is
both English and Welsh, which only twenty percent of the population
speaks.
But
despite this, Welsh is older than English which is a result of
invasions from mainland Europe. The population from the Eastern
portion of the British Isles that spoke Welsh migrated to the western
portion of the island. All signs seen are in both English and Welsh.
For example, the signs for Police also had the word Heddlu, which is
the Welsh word for police. Our first destination in Wales was the
ancient Caernarfon Castle. This formidable structure appeared as strong
and solid as when originally constructed in the thirteenth century. At
the peak of the castle you could see the entire town of Caernarfon.
King Edward I of England (Brave Heart) built many castles to suppress
the Welsh.
After
the Castle tour, we drove around the Welsh highlands to see beautiful
mountainside and countryside. We then entered the Welsh town of Conwy,
which is Welsh for Conway! I loved the fact that an entire Welsh city
had my surname. We even saw the Conwy castle, where my relatives must
have resided in the medieval times (just kidding). We had a great
dinner on the Conwy river overlooking the Irish sea with candelabras and
good conversation. After dinner, we had an hour drive back to our
hotel in Chester, England for our last overnight in this community. On
to Shakespeare country in the morning!
Link to Cathedral Performance:
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