- marseilles's Rating
The Tower of London is 900 years old, and has, at various times, been a royal palace, a fortress, and a prison. We made it to the Tower in time for one of the Yeoman Warders' Tours. The yeoman warders are the official guards of the Tower of London: each of them has to have had at least 15 years (I think) of military service, and has to have shown loyalty to the queen, before one can be accepted as a warder. The warders, however, also act as tour guides to the castle, and what wonderful guides they are!
The warder who led our tour gave us an hour-long orientation walk of the castle, punctuated with theatrical and funny stories about the people who had lived, been imprisoned, been executed, or died there. It was a very good tour, and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I don't think our visit to the Tower would have been quite as good if we hadn't join the Yeoman Warder's Tour.
After the orientation walk, we went to see the Crown Jewels, and then some of the military exhibits. Particularly memorable were the prison in Beauchamp Tower (with prisoners' graffiti still preserved on the walls) and an exhibit about Guy Fawkes.
The tower began to close before we had managed to see the entire castle, but my husband comforted us by pointing out that this gave us a reason to come back and visit the tower again in the future. After leaving the tower, we walked along the bank of the Thames for a little bit, before heading back home.
The Tower of London is open Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 9pm and on weekends and bank holidays from 10am to 5pm. Tickets are GBP 16 for adults and bookings can be made by phone via + 44 870 756 7070. The Yeoman Warders' tours last about an hour and begin every half hour.
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