March 23. The Southwest 2: Newquay, Port Isaac, Tintagel, & Glastonbury

In the morning we walked around town looking for a place to catch breakfast, stopping at the large and welcoming Costa that was already open at 8am. The city was a very nice infrastructure: waterworld, aquarium, zoo, but it's had better days. Its current reputation is a of a great town for surfers. Even Costa has surfing decorations all over.

We walked around the beach a bit until the high tide sent us going back up on the cliff where the town is situated. There was a rescue boat running an exercise in high waves. They were practicing doing various maneuvers going into the waves and turning a sharp angles. It was about 7 degrees Celsius in the morning, not terribly heart-warming to watch them. But I guess they have to train for rescue even in colder conditions.


We were still hoping to catch a bit more of the beach so detoured to Port Isaac hoping it will provide nice access. It does have a bit of a beach for boats but not for shell picking. To get to Port Isaac you have to pass a small ford. They have a large ruler sticking up from the water to mark the water level so you could decide whether or not to go in.

It was one of the nicest port towns we've ever been to. It is perched on the surrounding hill. Truly tiny streets with interesting names. Each house is unique. You can tell that each individual street and sign and wall are being loved. No pictures online or those that we took today do any justice to this beautiful gem of a town at all. It is a bit out of the way and not marked in our guide, which could explain unspoilt natural beauty and the lack of tourists.

Much inspired, we got back on our way to the legendary Tintagel castle - as legend has it, the birth castle to king Arthur. I've been wanting to go there for a very long time. It is beautiful and scenic - parts of it clinging to the cliffs on the mainland and others on the neighboring island reachable by the foot bridge-stairs.

It was nice to imagine ladies of the castle taking an afternoon stroll along the edge of the cliff watching out into the sea, and knights settling down for the evening feast in the giant main hall, now reduced to some portions of the wall as more and more parts of this fragile slate fortress continue to slide off into the sea. We got our fill of romantic ruins and headed to town to Arthur café for lunch. Another one to recommend :)

Two hours later we got to Glastonbury. Arthur's legend continued there - he is supposedly buried there with queen Guinevere. The town and the surrounding area had gone through being the center of pagan Celtic religions to Christianity and nowadays back to pagan. On the way to the Glastonbury Tor - 140m high natural grass covered hill that is supposedly hiding the Isle of Avalon, we've stopped at the peace garden housing the Chalice Well.


Truth be told, we were not prepared for this place being the Western version of the Wailing wall. Brightly garbed pilgrims having a moment of contemplation did not lend themselves to us feeling relaxed and one with the universe. Part of it had to do with prior priming at the wall - where Dan got duped by one of the followers. The other part was a pink-colored (I guess, it was still about 7 degrees Centigrade) naked guy that kept appearing on the hill nearly. Maybe he was connecting with the universe too.

Dan, Georgia, and I drank some of the metallic tasting holy water, Isabella refused... and headed for the Tor. Note the lovely sculpture of mother. You can put various things in the multiple storage cavities, including the one on the head.

The views from the mountain were beautiful. So much green. The day was very clear and we could see very far out. We had to hold on to the kids not to lose them to the wind :)

Back in town we walked over to the Glastonbury Abbey marveling the new paganist look of the town on the way. Chakra aligning shop, followed by the crystal heaven, followed by the hippy clothing supply store, natural foods, yoga, and back again. There were practically no tourists left in town, at least, most those who were out on the streets were dressed the part.


Glastonbury Abbey must have been one of the most impressive set of building of the12-13th century time period. Now it is reduced to a handful of ruins. Nevertheless it is awe-inspiring. Just like it did in Lithuania, as Christianity took hold of this region it very visibly transformed much of pagan imagery into Christian leaving a lot of ancient motifs behind. We really liked it.

2.5 hours later almost everyone is back home and asleep. I know I have almost 10 days worth of pictures to upload... will have to do it tomorrow.