Overview
Its point is continuity: nearly a thousand years of the same walls used for whatever the crown needed at the time. Two princes disappeared here, Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey were beheaded on the green, and the ravens are kept because of a superstition that the kingdom falls if they leave. The Crown Jewels are the working regalia, not replicas, and the moving walkway past them exists because the queue would otherwise never clear.
Highlights
Go at opening and see the Jewels first, before the coach parties arrive — after eleven the wait is long. The Yeoman Warder tours are free, run every half hour and are much better than the audio guide. Allow three hours; the walls and towers take longer than people expect.