3 Best Sights in St. David's, Wales

By far the smallest of the country's three national parks, Pembrokeshire Coast is no less strikingly beautiful than the other two. The park has several Blue Flag beaches and a host of spectacular cliff-top drives and walks, including some of the most popular stretches of the Wales Coast Path. The park has a smattering of historic sites, including the impossibly picturesque St. Davids Cathedral, built in a Viking-proof nook by the Irish Sea. The information center in St. Davids is a good place to start.

The idyllic valley location of this cathedral helped protect the church from Viking raiders by hiding it from the view of invaders who came by sea. Originally founded by St. David himself around AD 600, the current building dates from the 12th century, although it has been added to at various times since. You must climb down 39 steps (known locally as the Thirty-Nine Articles) to enter the grounds; then start at the Gatehouse, with its exhibition on the history of the building. In the cathedral itself, the 15th-century choir stalls still have their original floor tiles, while the Holy Trinity Chapel contains an intricate fan-vaulted ceiling and a casket said to contain the patron saint's bones. Don't miss the Treasury and its illuminated gospels, silver chalices, and 700-year-old golden bishop's crosier. At the rear of the grounds of St. Davids Cathedral are the ruins of the 13th-century Bishop's Palace, particularly beautiful at dusk. The cathedral has a good café serving lunch made with local produce.

The 100-foot-long Last Invasion Tapestry, on display in the Town Hall in Fishguard, is modeled on the famous Bayeux Tapestry depicting the Norman invasion of 1066. This modern version marks a lesser known and certainly less successful assault on the country. In 1797, a unit of French soldiers, led by an Irish-American general, landed in Fishguard Harbour. They were defeated by a hastily assembled local militia, which included many women. The impressive tapestry, commissioned to mark the event's 200th anniversary, took 70 local women more than 40,000 hours to complete. Fishguard is 16 miles northeast of St. Davids off the A487.