Cardiff: Wales Ho!

Saturday 10 October - Now that we are without a car we are limited to bus/train travel. We used this as a opportunity to finally visit Cardiff. Only about an hour and a half train ride away, Cardiff is the capitol of Wales. It was surprisingly similar to Bristol in that it has a lot of shopping. However, there are quite a few more arcades, including the cardiff arcade which had an impressive selection of butchers and a very nice fishmonger. Unlike Bristol, Cardiff also has a castle and this was our first stop of the day. The castle grounds include the ruins of a norman keep atop a steep hill and complete with surrounding moat. There is also a victorian manor house and a victorian recreation of a roman gate and enclosing stone wall. The Keep offered superburb views of the city and surrounding countryside. The Victorian manor was amazing intricate. Inside were lovely stained glass and faux stone walls, to give the feel of a medieval castle with all the comforts of the Victorian age. An intricate Arab room had complex vaulted ceiling and intricate tile work. The banquet hall was ornamented with murals, carved animal heads, a wooden vaulted ceiling with angles and stained glass. My favourite room was of course the library with its ornate bookcases, featuring unusual animals carved at the corners like platypuses and beavers. I was also jealous of the desks in the library which had built in heaters. After thoroughly visiting the castle, we had a nice pub lunch outside where we could watch all the shoppers. We walked down to the bay and watched some of the boats come in before heading back to the the train and back to Bristol.