March 1st - St David's Day

 The flag of Wales has the symbol of the red dragon against green and white.

March 1st is St David's Day. St David is the patron saint of Wales.

Prince William, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Kate, Princess of Wales, visited Wales, held yellow daffodils, the national flower, and spoke in Welsh.

In Wales

A parade of people dressed as dragons or wearing Welsh costume, is held in the capital, Cardiff.

The day is celebrated in Wales by people wearing daffodils, or leeks. Eating Welsh cakes - which are like think small pancakes or thin scones, yummy when served hot with butter melting on top.

What to do in Wales? 

1 Visit castles. Stay in a castle hotel or a hotel with a view of the castle. 

2 Eat Welsh food. Lamb and Welsh cakes. 

3 Visit Museums In Wales.

4 Learn Welsh. Start with words on trains from Paddington, in London, to Cardiff. Notice signs on stations. Learn Welsh on Duolingo.

5 Hear Welsh music. Welsh male voice choirs, singing in Welsh and English. Harpists who also sing. Esteddfod festivals.

Visits

Welsh museums 

My favourites are 

1 The Roman Museum near Caerleon. 

2 The tapestry in the library at Fishguard.

3 The free museum in Cardiff, the capital.

In summer you might visit an open air museum, go down a mine. 

Trails

Dylan Thomas

Fun Photos In Wales

Castles. 

Yourself and a castle. 

Yourself wearing a Welsh hat.

Souvenirs Of Wales To Buy Before Returning Home

You might buy Welsh souvenirs such as 

1 Carved love spoons. 

2 Welsh dragon or flag symbol 

On tee shirts or aprons or tea towels.

3 Welsh Words

I bought a book on Welsh words in a supermarket. 

4 Welsh Cakes

I bought Welsh cakes on the train home to London from Wales, but ate them cold which was not as nice. I should have saved them for later and heated them up.

Welsh Music

Land of my fathers

Men of Harlech 

Calon Lan (sung at Rugby matches)

Welsh Male Voice Choirs.

Solo artists such as Sir Tom Jones - singing Green Green Grass of Home). Dame Shirley Bassey.

Recordings sold in souvenir shops.

Welsh Food and Drink

1 Welsh cakes containing currants or dried fruit

2 Bara brith - speckled bread, a fruit cake

3 Lava bread (seaweed)

4 Lamb Casserole, with vegetables, (called cawl)

5 Leeks

Factory tours and tasting shops

Beer

Honey

Whisky

Wine

Words in Welsh-English

Dewi Sant - saint David (adjective second after the noun, like Spanish and French)

Do the little things in life. (Quote from St David.)

gwnewch y pethau bychain

 Wales: "Penblwydd hapus i chi    Happy birthday to you

Words in English - Welsh

Do the little things in life = gwnewch y pethau bychain

Happy birthday to you -   Wales: "Penblwydd hapus i chi

Welsh Words - English

aber - estuary

allanfa - exit 

bara brith - speckled bread bara-bread brith-speckled

bore - morning

bws - bus

car - car

cath - cat

croeso - welcome

diolch - thanks

eglwys - church

fach - small

felin - mill

fferi - ferry

llan - church

mawr - big (I think of more or magnificent)

o - of

plas - mansion (not just a place, a mansion)

pont - bridge

toiled - toilet

toiledau dynion - men's toilets

toiledau merched - ladies toilets

twr - tower

tywel - towel

y - the

English - Welsh

A- D

big - mawr (I think of more or magnificent)

bridge - pont

bus - bws 

car - car

cat - cath

church - eglwys / Llan

E - K

estuary - aber

exit - allanfa

ferry - fferi

good - da

Good morning.

Bore da. (BOR-eh dah) (The adjective is after the noun, literally morning good.)

Good night.

Nos da. (NOHS dah)

L - R

mill - felin

 morning - bore

mansion - plas  (not just a place, a mansion of - o

S - Z

small - fach the - y

toiledau dynion - men's toilets

toiledau merched - ladies toilets

tower - twr 

towel - tywel 

toilet - toiled

welcome - croeso 

Useful Websites On Welsh Souvenirs and Subjects

Languages

duolingo.com

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Welsh_phrasebook

translate google

Saint David - Dewi Sant

Dylan Thomas

Useful Websites About Wales and St David's Day

Report of the royal visit on Sunday March 1st 2026

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70n99e396jo

Music

https://tirglas.co.uk/pages/portal-famous-welsh-songs-and-anthems

Calon Lan hymn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calon_L%C3%A2n

We Are Still Here recording in Welsh, solo with chorus

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0179/9045/files/21_-_Yma_O_Hyd.mp3?v=1654767520

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UK Roman and Greek Statues and Sites: Caractacus, Londoninium and Hadrian

Problem
Where can I visit Roman sites?

Answers:
Roman sites to see:

If you are starting in London, England. look no further. It was called Londinium.

Story
You will notice that I specify London, England. That is because when I left the USA to live in London, England, several people wrote to me in London, without adding England to the address on the envelope, and my letters arrived months later via London, Canada, with envelopes with hand written notes, Not Known Here, Try London, England.

I also check the statistics of my readership every day, in fact several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. Often I have a large number of readers in the USA and Canada.

UK
London Wall, London.
London Museum, London. (Go to the Barbican or Moorgate tube station to see the London Museum. Best travel by London's underground train service. See Google maps.)

British Museum, London. (You may find long queues on busy days in high season if there's an exhibition. Check the situation on queues and prices and combined tickets before setting off.)

Up north
Hadrian's Wall. Several sites along the border of England and Scotland, such as Vindolanda which has a good museum. Best travel by car, unless you are a keen hiker and walker. The thing I remember most from Vindolanda was buying a postcard showing the Romans all sitting over holes in one long toilet seat.

Caractacus
A favourite song which I hear when I go to Swanwick Writers Summer School, is about Caractacus. (I remember the chorus and endless repetitions of "just walking by"). I had never thought about whether he was Greek or Roman or British or mythological or a real person or when he lived.

I was amazed, amused and delighted to find a link to an article in the Independent revealing to me that Caractacus and his entourage were involved in the Roman conquest of Britain, basically involving a British lady who decided to switch sides and join the Romans.

WALES
Roman Museum at Caerleon. (Nearest big city, Newport.) Not far across the bridge from England to Wales. Toll on bridge one way, paid going into Wales. Take the toll receipt and check the back of the receipt for discount offers on local attractions and/or food and drink.

The Roman museum at Caerleon is my all time favourite. (Jointly with Vindolanda.) The things I remember is that excavators found rings, coins and other items dropped into the toilet system. I can imagine the person who lost the item wondering where it had gone. (I feel the urge to write a short story set in Roman times, about somebody who drops a ring down the toilet system, accuses a friend or enemy of stealing it, kills them, goes on the run. Years later their descendant is an archaeologist who finds it. I wonder if I could tell it from the ring's point of view, or the point of view of two matching rings.)

Tips
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/royal-sex-scandal-roman-empire-yorkshire-discovery-a7671171.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Roman Remains in Wiltshire

 Here's the BBC video showing the place and the vivid colours of the mosaic floor that has been found and an artist's 3D drawing impression (from Manifesto) of what the three storey villa might have looked like. The archeologists and investigators have identified Roman roof tiles.

The funny twist is that an oblong trough shaped like a window box and used by the farmer's family for geraniums was identified as a Roman child's coffin. (I wish experts would tell us how they know.) A prime example of 'hiding in plain sight'.

That's a joy for the armchair traveller. If you are on holiday in the UK you will find museums along Hadrian's Wall which separated England from Scotland. You can walk along the route East to Wes, or vice versa. I have been there and written about it at least twice.

The farmer, Luke Irwin, and the rams on his farm are shown, and the holes excavated at intervals, seen from above, but with a man inside showing how deep they have gone down. I estimate it will cost millions to dig up the entire area, gently so as not to disturb or break what is found, then more millions to build the visitor centre, with a cafe and toilet and souvenir shop, build a car park, make video reconstructions, walk in reconstructions, commission souvenirs. Yes, of course, that always takes place and it will eventually be done. Meanwhile, we have the first glimpse.

What can you see already of the Romans in the UK?

Romans in Wales
If you are visiting Wales a good Roman museum is at Caerleon. Drive across the bridge into Wales (have some coins read for the toll). You turn right over the rolling hills (you may need to turn left to turn right, depending which exit you take). A very pleasant drive takes you over the green hills past the pubs and through the woods and across the river into Caerleon.

The amphitheatre is open intermittently, depending on time of year and weather and any events using the site.

The museum has a shop and fascinating finds such as rings dropped in Roman latrines, and gravestones with heartfelt messages. If you learned Latin at Grammar school, as I did, it's fun to translate the Latin. At last a use for it - not just checking the origins of words.

Some of the best and biggest in the UK are:
verulanium, St Albans, Hertfordshire (combine with visit to the cathedral)
The Roman Baths, Bath (combine with Jane Austen house visit and see Nash Terraces, row of houses on hillside)
Caerleon, near Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales

INFO ON UK ROMAN SITES
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/36066089
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian%27s_Wall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_sites_in_Great_Britain

ROMAN SITES WORLDWIDE
Of course, if you want to see Roman ruins in Rome, you can visit the Colloseum and more. Like dinosaurs, the Romans capture the imaginations of children as well as adults, making a great family friendly cultural outing.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

LATIN? Yes, you do speak Latin!

I learned Latin at school and went as far as O level. It's fascinating seeing Latin on stones in museums near Hadrian's Wall on the borders of Scotland and England, at the Roman museum in Caerleon, Wales. When travelling you will find Latin on archaeological sites and in museums, and all over Italy. Several Roman sites and museums are in Israel and Jordan. Latin is also used in plant names.

A few words which help you understand English and other European languages:

ager - field (agriculture)
frater - brother
hortus - garden (horticulture)
mater - mother (maternal, matrilineal)
omni - all
pater - father (paternity)
polis - city (politics)
sui - self