Started out this morning to go to Cilgerran Castle.  The weather was rainy but it stopped when we got there.  The actual castle was a little difficult to find as someone had stolen a sign. Another castle ruin, but tomorrow we will go to Powys Castle.

Some of you might know that there were lots of narrow gauge railroads in Wales (mostly 2 foot gauge).  We picked the Vale of Rheidol train because the route is very scenic and the equipment is the same that was used on that line. Had lunch before the train ride at the Two Hoots Cafe where they had gluten free options.  Had Hot Chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows (strawberry marshmallows!)

Had a lot of fun riding the train. We rode in both a closed and open car.

We then drove to Bettws for our next lodging, the Talbot Hotel.  It is a small inn in a village and the building is from the 1600’s.  We had dinner and then walked around the village.  The bell ringers (big bells in the church tower) were practicing, so we had bells as we were walking. The bell ringers apparently always go to the Talbot for a pint after practice and we were having dessert and coffee when they arrived. Had a nice time talking with them.

Had a beautiful weather day today and we went to St. David’s. We toured the Bishop’s Palace ruin and the Cathedral.

Had lunch at a small cafe in St. David’s and did some shopping in the shops.  It is a cute town and while touristy, not as crowded as some other tourist towns.

After lunch and shopping we drove to St. Justinians to walk a little way on the Coast path, the view were amazing. We also took a boat ride around Ramsey Island.  We saw some Atlantic Seals sunning themselves on the beach and saw the coast from the water.

Tomorrow we drive to the central Wales area and more adventures.

On the road this morning to a historic site that included ruined tin works and a waterfall.  Unfortunately, we got there an hour and a half before it opened.  We took a local walk along the old canals and took a few pictures.

We then went to Careg Cennen Castle.  More driving on Welsh “superhighways”, the the views from the castle were well worth the drive. It was a short but steep walk up to the castle.

Then drove to Tenby, but could not stop as the place was packed and we could not find a parking spot. Tried to drive to see some coast, but the road we took never got us near the sea. We drove to our B&B, East Hook Farm, which is in a 1760’s farm house.  It was down a narrow farm lane, but the hospitality is definitely worth it, they even have gluten-free cereals and bread!

We had dinner in Broad Haven and got to see the sea (Atlantic Ocean).  The roads were narrow, so we didn’t wait to see the sun go down.

Linda had to take a picture of one of the little daisy plants that are everywhere.

Off tomorrow to explore St. David’s and more of the Pembrokeshire coast.

Here is a photo of our B&B.  The day was alternating clouds, sun and downpours.

We started the day at the Brecon Beacons Visitor Center.  The views were nice, but there were a lot of clouds.  On the drive back to the main road, we hit a pothole and got a flat tire.  We had to wait an hour for the AA (we took a few pictures of a lovely stream) and then we followed him to the tire store in Abergavenny.

We had a lunch while they changed the tire and because we had gone to the east, we decided to go to Llanthony Priory. The road was very narrow and it was raining very hard, but the views and the ruins at the end of the drive were worth it.

This is a view of one of the Welsh “superhighways” from our car!

Now that we are back at the B&B, the sun is out and this is a view from our room.

I also learned that “LL” is not pronounced like an “L” in English.  It is more like “CHL”. I grew up in Llanarch outside Philadelphia and now know it is pronounced Chlanarch! You are never too old to learn.

Tomorrow we are off to Pembrokeshire via a falls and castle ruins.  More pictures and commentary tomorrow.

Had two relaxing days at sea before arriving at Southampton.  One thing we say at sea was the Great Belt East bridge that links two Danish islands.

The next day we sailed into Southampton and after a short Customs delay (what a surprise!) we got a taxi to the rental agency.  Our rental car is a Mercedes!

We hopped into the car and immediately sat in summer traffic (ugh!), we really were spoiled when we were here in May (no traffic).  Had a brief visit to Cardiff Castle and then drove to our B&B, which is very nice. We had dinner in a pub restaurant and it was very good.

Woke up to rain, but it is supposed to clear off in a little while.  Wales is beautiful and more pictures will follow.

Docked this morning at Gdynia, the port for Gdansk. We took a tour that took us into Gdansk and also to Sopot, the beach area for Gdansk. Here are the Gdansk photos.

Here are photos from the beach (Sopot)

We will soon be leaving for 2 days at sea before we end the cruise at Southampton.  We then get our rental car and begin our Welsh tour. More posts then.

 

 

 

We had a great day in Helsinki.  Out first stop was at the Sibelius Monument.

Then we got back on the Hop on bus and went to Market Square. There we took a harbor cruise and missed most of the rain.

We are on our way to Poland and are having a day at sea celebrating Linda’s birthday.

 

Had a great time in St. Petersburg.  On Saturday, we took an afternoon canal/river cruise and the views were amazing.

 

On Sunday, we went to the Hermitage and it was wonderful as well.  We were admitted an hour before it was open to the general public and it was not crowded at all.  It helped that there were not many cruise ships in port on Sunday.  After the museum, we had three hours on our own and we had lunch on Nevskiy Prospect. Then we went to the Church of the Spilled Blood and the mosaics were amazing.

We had a beautiful sunset on our way to Helsinki.

More about Helsinki tomorrow.

Docked in Tallin this morning and we booked a coastal drive and lighthouse tour.  We wanted to get out in the country side and see some of the rest of the country.  We were not disappointed.  The first photo is of Old Town Tallin from our balcony.

We then drove to see the Suurupi Front lighthouse.  This is part of a two part lighthouse so the ships can line up going into a harbor.

The highlight was the Pakri Lighthouse.  I climbed to the top (275 steps!!) and the views we great.  There were wildflowers near the lighthouse which were beautiful.  We also saw a stork in its nest (no picture).

Sailing this evening to St. Petersburg.

After a relaxing day at sea, we had a beautiful sunset.

The sail into and out of Stockholm was stunning.  The little islands with their painted houses were amazing.

We had a great day in Stockholm.  We went to the Vasa Museum where they have preserved the ship Vasa that sank within 20 minutes after it was launched.  The ship is massive and the carvings that have been preserved are amazing.

Went to central Stockholm and to the Royal Palace and the old town.

We are off to Tallin, Estonia.