BritLit - Here Lies Arthur's Birthplace

   

 Still visiting the setting for Here Lies Arthur, by Philip Reeve, we spent the afternoon at the breathtaking Tintagel Castle or if you're Cornish "Kastel Dintagel". 
     Legend has it that King Arthur was born here. Parts of the castle are still standing and "Merlin's cave" makes an appearance between tides. 300 or so steps up take you up the castle's foundations which have been marked by historians so that you can know what the rooms are used for. One room has an altar, another was decorated with flowers and used for ladies to enjoy poetry readings - "Where for art thou Lancelot?" - count me in! 

This scene is so remarkable and unique, I have to include a bunch of pictures...

Looking out of Merlin's Cave

 

Merlin's cave

Just your average day at the castle!

Top of the world poetry room

The Island Courtyard

The cove from above the cave

Out the castle "window"

Steps in the Great Hall

Entrance to the Great hall

   The view from up top was unbelievable! You could see the deep-blue ocean below curving around the peak at about a 300 degree turn. To the East which is now the Cornwall, there's a peninsula connecting to a huge, walled courtyard and  the other way leads through the great hall where you can look out their windows and walk up their steps.

     Even if Arthur was ever proven to be only legend, someone lived here and traded in the port and that someone was a BOSS. Sitting atop the mainland, painting the cove below with nothing man-made in view except the castle walls was magical! No trip to Disneyland could even compare to the feeling of being transported to another time and place as being in Tintagel. It made me feel like I could hear the clink of armor or I needed to watch out for Vikking ships in the west or the blue-faced Braveheart running up from the East crying "FREEDOM!"

Ain't nothin' corny about Cornwall!