Tintern Abbey and Raglan Castle

Tintern Abbey-- by far my most favorite stop on the tour of Wales.  Rather secluded in the forest on the banks of the River Wye, the ruins of Tintern Abbey rise from the ground in quite a mystical way.  To think that this building had been built in the 1300s and still have so much remain standing is beyond my comprehension!  (And to think that the main reason that it is in ruins is because of Henry VIII's decree to destroy many of the centres of Catholic worship...I cannot even begin to imagine how it would look if that had never come to pass)   I am sure that I looked absolutely ridiculous as I walked around the different parts of  the abbey with my mouth wide open in disbelief.  Words cannot even begin to describe how beautiful I found this place to be, and I seriously could not stop church hymns from running through my head.  Considering that this was formerly a place of worship, I can understand why this was so.  The beauty of this place (which is not done any justice at all by the two included pictures) called to me in a way that made me want to stay forever.  Unfortunately, I did not have forever to spend within the Abbey walls, so I left it behind with fond memories in my heart and about ten pictures on my camera.

Raglan was one of the first (and far from being the last) castles that we visited during our tour of Wales, and I must say that although it was interesting to see, not much sticks out in my mind about it.  Raglan did, however, have a little dungeon in it off to the side of the entrance that might actually be scary if you went down in it by yourself on a dark, foreboding day.  I myself descended the winding stairs down into the dark abyss at the bottom, and could not see a blasted thing in front of my face, but there really was nothing to be scared of despite the fact that there was someone lurking at the bottom attempting to frighten one of the hapless American tourists passing by...

Isle of Anglesey

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