Cardiff: The Reinvented City

The first thing you need to know about the capital of Wales is that this is a bilingual city! Everything is written in two languages: firstly in english and secondly in welsh. This happens not only in Cardiff but also all over Wales in general.

After talking to some people outside Cardiff, I was expecting a weekend full of rain but that wasn’t what happened when I arrived! Actually, it was a bit dark and cloudy but it wasn’t raining at all so I could enjoy a nice night of football with some pints (I’ll tell you later where you can go!).

On the second day I wasn’t so lucky…it’s was raining cats and dogs but it stopped when I arrived to the Cardiff Castle! But it started again when I was trying to reach some place to eat so I just had to buy an umbrella in one of the many stores that there are near the castle. We went on a mini tour around the castle to see the museum and the university along with the gardens (even the rain won’t stop me!). After that we thought it would be better to go to some pub and enjoy some time there watching the European Championship (yeah, I know I’m a bit nerd but that’s ok for me).

On the last day the rain gave me a day off so I went to the Cardiff Bay and it’s surroundings to enjoy a bit the other side of the city and to check what was going on over there since I heard a huge concert during the night. I can tell you that from the castle until the bay it’s a walk of 3km more or less so the city is not that big enough. However, I couldn’t go to the Llandaff’s Cathedral because it was a bit far away and it was raining so I decided to miss this part…and it was still a nice decision!

Although it’s a roman city, it’s a city of nowadays and it’s the main place in Wales to go shopping because there are three shopping malls in the city centre. Now I’m going to tell you the main places I went during my small visit to Cardiff.

Cardiff Castle

The perfect place to go with family or friends. In here you can enjoy the beautiful view of this medieval castle and its Victorian Gothic mansion at the city centre. Also you can go back in time inside the air raid shelters that are still there inside the castle walls with some posters and a dozen or two of collectibles from that time. It’s the main attraction of this town (if you didn’t come here for the shopping, of course) but you have to pay £11,30 for admittance. Even so it is worth to visit since it really is astonishing and you can see the city from the top of the castle and you can take so many incredible pictures over there! 

There’s also a museum inside the castle walls (you need to enter through the shop) called Cardiff Castle Museum of the Welsh Soldier, which celebrates the Welsh soldier over a period of 300 years, a time which saw ordinary Welshmen travel the world, carrying out military service at battles such as Waterloo (1815) and Rorke's Drift (1879) and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here you can see a huge collection of medals, uniforms, guns and you can also use hands-on and dressing up activities. The entrance is included with the Castle ticket!

St John the Baptist Parish Church

The only medieval building other than the castle. This is the oldest church and apart from some parts of Cardiff Castle it is said to be the oldest building in Cardiff still in constant use so it’s a must see at the centre!

Cardiff City Hall

It stands in the heart of the civic centre. However, it just stands for conferences, exhibitions and weddings so it was closed to the public and I couldn’t come in. However, it’s an impressive building with an incredible architecture from the outside.

National Museum Cardiff

Another incredible museum with a huge variety of collections and with free admission (just the way I love!). Here you can enjoy some archaeology, botany, art, geology and zoology just like in some other museums but you really must see the Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Renoir, Rodin, Cézanne and Picasso paintings (there are also Picasso China in the main corridor on the second floor so make sure you don’t miss them!). While I was here there was also a Japanese exhibition called Kizuna but it will only last until the 9th of September.

Alexandra Gardens

The Welsh National War Memorial is at the centre of this formal garden but i could check them since it was raining cats and dogs so I just entered to check the main landscape of it. However it looks incredible to go on a sunny day with lots of flowers and colors!

Temple of Peace

A non religious building where Doctor Who’s episodes “The End of the World” where the Temple Hall and other parts of the building represented a space station. This building was also used in many more episodes of this tv series. This building is mostly used for weddings.

The Red Dragon Centre

For me this was the best place in Cardiff (apart from the Castle) to spend an incredible morning or afternoon even with your family and friends. This place has lots of things to offer such as cinema, dinning, bars, a casino and bowling so you just have to pick one of this options or you can use go for all of them in one day! My decision was to go to the Hollywood Bowl where you can play in so many machines that are just like arcades and, the funniest of them all, the 2 penny arcade with lots of sweets, candies and gifts to ear. If you don’t want to play on these machines you have another option…to earn lots of tickets to withdraw for prizes.

Wales Millennium Centre

An arts centre in the Cardiff Bay where you can buy ticket for different spectacles such as ballet, dance, opera, theatre comedies and musicals. I didn’t have the opportunity to get inside but from the outside it just looks huge and that it hosts lots of people inside.

Roald Dahl Plass

A public opened space in the centre of the Cardiff Bay named after the Cardiff-born author Roald Dahl. It has a bowl-like shape, making this place popular for hosting open-air concerts.

Pierhead Building

It stands as one of the city of Cardiff's most familiar landmarks and it was built in 1897 as the headquarters for the Bute Dock Company. The clock on the building is unofficially known as the "Baby Big Ben” or the "Big Ben of Wales", and also serves as a Welsh history museum. This is a must see as like I said it’s a landmark of the city and you have a beautiful view from it to the bay. Also you need to go around the bay until you reach the Landsea Gardens to take some incredible pictures of the Bay and this building in particular, don’t forget that!

Cardiff Market

An impressive victorian structure under a glass roof where you can find a wealth of products ranging from pots and pans to bread and butter. This was where I ate lunch and dinner and, of course, where I bought freshly cooked traditional welshcakes for as much as 30 pence each or 10 for £2,90. There is a huge variety of things stuffing these cakes so make sure you’d try them!

Pubs

The Owain Glyndwr

Located just near the st. John the Baptist Church, this pub has two floors and it’s the perfect place to come to have a pint with some friends while at the same time watch a soccer game or any another match! It isn’t that noisy as we expect from an english pub with football matches going on and the pints costs around £3,50. I also ordered 30 hot wings for £10,75 so I just loved this place to have dinner as well! I definitely recommend it.

The Goat Major

The name of this building celebrates the pub’s association with the Welsh infantry regiment, The Royal Welsh, whose mascot is a goat. The goat major is the soldier who looks after the goat and leads it on ceremonial occasions. Millions of people have seen the goat and major on television, during pre-match festivities at Wales rugby internationals.

Now, about this pub in particular and not about it’s history…it’s a very friendly pub with great atmosphere. The pint costs around £3,50 and we still had two double tonic gins Bombay Saphire for 8 which I consider it was really cheap. I definitely recommend it!

Just to end about this place, it was really nice getting to know the capital of Wales although the city is a bit smaller than I thought it would be so it fits perfectly on a weekend trip!

I hope I helped you with all the details on where to eat, drink and go on a tour!

Safe flights ❤

Written by: Kiawa