Our Blog - Cardiff, Wales (Day 1)

We arrived and check into our B&B, and basically did nothing other than head out to dinner. We decided on The Potted Pig, which was a fairly short walk from the hotel. It is housed in a former a bank vault, and we sat downstairs in a cellar. Tom decided to try out a local beer called Pipes Indie Lager. As you can tell from the pictures, the serving size here is HUGE ... Tom had the Ham Hock with roasted new potatoes, and the plate was the size of a rugby ball! I had a dish that had pork 3 ways: a pork tenderloin medallion, a slice of pork belly, and then a crispy pork piece.

The next morning, we headed out for a walking tour of Cardiff, the capital and largest city in Wales. Of the 3 million people in wales, over 10% live in Cardiff, between 350K and 400K. A short walk from our hotel and we were in Bute Park, Cardiff’s main city park, sitting on the eastern bank of the river Taff. It is a huge expanse of green just north of the downtown area. There are a variety of trails through the park, including a discovery play trail for kids. Sculptor Tom Harvey was appointed to create five features which can be climbed and explored in a variety of ways, this one is a warthog-inspired landscape feature called Pumba.

Here, looking down the River Taff, you can make out the Principality Stadium in the background, which is located just on the West edge of the downtown area. Among other things, it is the home of the Welsh rugby union.

On the other side of the park is Cardiff University. It was founded in 1883 and is the 3rd oldest university institution in Wales and has an enrollment a little over 31,000 students (undergraduate and graduate).

There are several buildings of note with the University. This first is the Bute Building, which houses the Welsh School of Architecture and the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. The neoclassical building was designed by architects Percy Thomas and Ivor Jones, who won a competition in 1911 to design a building for Cardiff Technical College. The foundations of the building were laid in 1913 and the building opened in 1916. The building has six Roman Doric columns in the front of the building and includes the Birt Acres Lecture Theatre. You can see the Welsh Dragon on top of the building, which has been used to symbolize Wales since around the year 829.

Next is the Glamorgan building, an Edwardian building that used to be the county hall for Glamorgan County, and is now home to the university's School of Social Sciences and the School of Planning and Geography. The building was completed in 1912. In front are two statue groups that serve as reminders of Glamorgan's source of wealth: navigation and the other coal mining. The first statue that I show is that of Minerva, which represents mining and then Neptune in a chariot, representing navigation.

The Welsh National War Memorial stands in the middle of the Alexandra Gardens, named after Alexandra of Denmark, the Queen consort of Edward VII. The memorial takes the form of a circular colonnade surrounding a sunken court. At the centre of the court is a group of three bronze sculptures arranged around a stone pylon. Around the base stand three figures, a soldier, sailor and airman, holding wreaths aloft. Above them, crowning the structure, is a winged male nude representing Victory.

Nearby was a rock sitting on top of a memorial for those who gave their lives in the name of freedom (based on the inscription) and was a gift from the people of the Falkland island. It traveled 8,000 miles from the battlefield of Mt. Harriet to Cardiff. There was a Battle of Mount Harriet as part of the Falklands war in 1982.

The National Museum was founded in 1905, sharing a building with a library. A new building started in 1912, but the opening was delayed due to World War I until 1922. It has an art collection, including impressionist and post-impressionist work, 1930s surrealism and 20th century art from Wales, as well as natural history, archaeology and geology exhibitions. What is even better is that it is FREE!!

Gorsedd Gardens sits in front of the museum and has a stone circle that was constructed in 1899, when the National Eisteddfod of Wales was held in Cardiff. An Eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The garden's name refers to the Gorsedd of Welsh Bards, the ceremonial order that governs the Eisteddfod.

We happened to go by this poster, so I snapped a picture. No commentary is necessary :-)

This is the Cardiff City Hall, which was opened in October 1906 and built out of Portland stone. It is an example of the Edwardian Baroque style (the Edwardian era lasted 1901-1910). Offset from the main cupola is a clock tower with a 4, 12-ft diameter gilded clocks, one on each side. We attempted to go inside to look at a set of sculptures but we were quickly told that visitors are not allowed. I did catch the very colorful decor on the entry gate, with 1905 on it ... you may wonder why 1905 and not 1906 (so did I). Cardiff received its city charter in 1905 while construction was underway, hence the 1905 date. In front are several columns which have an interesting coat of arms on the front and Welsh Dragons on each side.

Probably the biggest tourist site is Cardiff Castle ... well, now that the Dr. Who Experience has closed! The foundations of the castle date back to the year 50 although the current building only dates from the 19th century. Between the two, there were various different forts and fortifications on the same sight. As you walk around it, you start to get a sense of how large it is, and it truly looks like a medieval castle.

The clock tower was built in 1868, all 150 feet of it! I attempted to get a little more of a close-up but my camera just wasn't powerful enough.

Inside the outer bailey walls, sitting up on a hill, is the Norman shell keep. This is really just a type of medieval fortification which contains a stone structure built on the the top of a motte (a hill with a flat top). The shell keep dates back to the middle of the 12th century, possibly in response to the threat posed following the Welsh uprising of 1136.

The Animal Wall was designed in 1866 but not built until 1890. Originally, there were 9 animal sculptures (hyena, wolf, apes, seal, bear, lioness, lynx, and 2 different lions). They must have been really beautiful back then as they were painted in naturalistic colors and had glass eyes. The wall was also originally just outside the castle, about 160 feet from where it was moved in 1922. In 1931, 6 more animals were added (pelican, ant-eater, raccoons, leopard, beaver and vulture).

Back in Bute Park, we find another Gorsedd stone circle.

Nearby the stone circle, there is the outline of the foundations of 13th century Blackfriars Priory. It was destroyed in 1404 and later rebuilt, only to be finally vacated in 1538 when the monasteries were dissolved. There is a really good model that shows what it used to look like.

From there, we caught a water taxi down to the wharf area, passing by the Millennium Centre. It is called 'The Armadillo' based on the shape and copper color of the dome. It is right downtown, which is great, although the interior just looks like a modern theater/concert hall building.

And a few pictures of Cardiff Bay.

This dark red building, which you also saw from the boat in front of the Millennium Centre, is the Pierhead building. It was built in 1897 as the headquarters of the Bute Dock Company and it has a perfect view of the bay and former docks. It is built in a French-Gothic Renaissance style, with hexagonal chimneys, carved friezes, gargoyles, and a highly ornamental clock tower. Inside is the Welsh history museum, which was actually pretty good for a quick stop. In addition to the various displays, it also had some really lovely and colorful tiles.

The Senedd building houses the National Assembly of Wales. It was designed with glass façade around the entire building and is dominated by a steel roof and wood ceiling. The architects indicated that "The building was not to be an insular, closed edifice. Rather it would be a transparent envelope, looking outwards to Cardiff Bay and beyond, making visible the inner workings of the Assembly and encouraging public participation in the democratic process."

This is the 82 foot tall Alliance sculpture. It consists of a large, partly enameled, stainless steel arrow, and a hoop that glows in the dark. The hoop, filled with a phosphorescent liquid, is partially submerged below the pavement, with a mechanism programmed to make it rise and fall with the Bristol Channel tides.

There were several shopping arcades, this one is the Wyndham Arcade. The Edwardian-style arcade was built in 1887 and still is pretty full with cafe's and specialty stores.

We really liked the architecture here (don't know if it is Tudor, Victorian, Edwardian ... but it is nice).

The Cardiff Market, which has been in business in various places from the 1700's, is housed in a Victorian building with a huge glass roof. Unlike the covered Victor Hugo market in Toulouse, here you can find everything from pots and pans to bread and butter, and from nuts and bolts to fruits and veggies.

St John the Baptist Church is the only church dating to pre-Medieval times in the downtown area of Cardiff and the only medieval building other than Cardiff Castle. The stained-glass windows are from between 1855 and 1869.

For dinner our last night in Cardiff, we ended up just next door to our B&B at a place called the Cricketeers. We had wanted to try Welsh Rarebit although we didn't really know what it was until we got to Wales. It has no rabbit :-). It is actually more like an open grilled cheese sandwich ... melted cheese and mustard (normally) made into a sauce and poured over toasted bread.

Then of course, I had to start with beer-battered fish, mushy peas, and double cooked chips. Tom doesn't remember what exactly this was (I think it was one of the specials) but he remembers that it was good.

For dessert, we went with a special roasted peach dessert, since peaches were in season.

As we were leaving, we grabbed a picture of the B&B (called The Town House) and one of our hosts, that had cooked us great breakfasts each morning!

Continue to Day 3: Cardiff to Newport or go back to the main Wales vacation blog page