Castle review thread.

[heydaralon]

A Mayan castle in Tulum:



There are castles all over the jungle where they built cities in the middle of fucking nowhere. They are heavily scavenged and eroded these days, though. You have to hike deep into the jungle to see the ones not fucked with in all this time, but it's dangerous and the Mayans who live there now might not be too happy about you fucking with that stuff.

People think of all those Mayans, Aztecs etc as being these savages with inferior tech to Europe. They were, but they built these enormous complex societies with populations rivaling Europe's big cities at the time. Their art and architecture has always amazed me, especially since it evolved separately from Europe's and Asia's for thousands of years. It is a tragedy that Cortez and his ilk destroyed much of the Aztec libraries. Same thing with the Incans. A complex society that is now lost in history forever...

[Montegriffo]

American peasant builds his own castle out of shipping containers.

Well I guess that is the best castle built with sea crates posted so far.
It's no Beaumaris though...

[Montegriffo]

A Mayan castle in Tulum:



There are castles all over the jungle where they built cities in the middle of fucking nowhere. They are heavily scavenged and eroded these days, though. You have to hike deep into the jungle to see the ones not fucked with in all this time, but it's dangerous and the Mayans who live there now might not be too happy about you fucking with that stuff.

Looks more like a temple than a castle to me. Steps only really work as a defensive measure against Daleks.

[Speaker to Animals]

A Mayan castle in Tulum:



There are castles all over the jungle where they built cities in the middle of fucking nowhere. They are heavily scavenged and eroded these days, though. You have to hike deep into the jungle to see the ones not fucked with in all this time, but it's dangerous and the Mayans who live there now might not be too happy about you fucking with that stuff.

Looks more like a temple than a castle to me. Steps only really work as a defensive measure against Daleks.

The steps are on the temple, not the outer wall. Mayans built castles with their temple and barracks for warriors and aristocracy inside the walls. The walls in that castle are eroded and scavenged now, but you can still see the base of them in the photo.

The interesting thing about them is how they built these cities in the middle of inhospitibale jungle. There are cities deep in the rainforests that nobody ever got around to excavating. There are forgotten city ruins, including castles, all over the remote stretches of the Central American rain forests.

[Montegriffo]

Remember this place?

[Montegriffo]

Off to France next week to work on the garden and check the house is ok.
Only going to have a couple of weeks and there's a lot to do but I'm hoping to take in a castle or two as I drive down.
Just been doing a bit of research and I found this place about 100 miles from my house.
Château d'Angers 9th century fortress

[Montegriffo]

Ferry booked, new hi-viz jacket bought (mice ate the last one), headlamp deflectors bought (the French drive on the wrong side of the road), spare bulb set bought, alcohol breath test kits bought, GB sticker for the car bought, warning triangle and first aid kit packed. All French reg's complied with.
Two new tyres ordered for the car.
Sailing Newhaven - Dieppe to avoid the roaming packs of immigrants at Calais. JK, it's a better route and a bit cheaper plus I get to visit mates in Brighton on the way to the port at Newhaven.
5hr sail gets me to France at 3pm Sunday with about 450 miles of driving to get to the house.
Or there are two places I could reach in daylight but it would mean getting to the house a day later.
Château Gaillard...

...and Château Guillaume-le-Conquérant

[Montegriffo]

Sat in the queue waiting to board the ferry for France. Landing in Dieppe which is a few miles up the coast from the Normandy landings beaches.
I've not seen the sea state yet but it is windy AF so could be in for a choppy crossing.

[Montegriffo]

Sick bags on the tables. That's never a good sign.
Luckily, after sailing thousands of miles in small yachts I don't get sick on big ships.
I can see the sea now and it looks like a force 6 or 7 from here.

[Montegriffo]

Just checked the shipping forecasts for Dover and Wight.
Gale warning, force 7-9 Westerly, sea state rough visibility good.
Bit of luck, with the wind behind us we could get there half an hour early.
Trick is to avoid the toilets, the smell of vomit is enough to make you lose breakfast even if you didn't feel sick before you went in.