Wales
June 24th, 2011 at 12:14 pm by David Farrar
This is the front of the Lincoln Hotel where we are staying in Cardiff. It was ranked No 1 in Trip Advisor, and is great quality and service for rooms as low as 60 pounds a night. Very good location also.
Thee hotel backs onto the Sophia Gardens, which are huge and lovely. They run next to the River Taff.
You walk through the gardens to Cardiff Castle. The grounds are pretty large, and it took us 2 hours to get around it. During WWII up to 1,800 people used it as a bomb shelter.
This Norman keep within the castle walls. I would not have wanted to try and take that keep.
And also within the castle, is this Victorian mansion.
A view of the castle from the top of the keep.
The castle has falcons and owls. Isn’t he cute?
The interior of the mansion.
The famous Cardiff Animal Wall.
Anna, at the top of the Norman keep.
We then took the aquataxi down the river to Mermaid Quay in Cardiff Bay. As we get off the boat, we see this touching memorial. I wonder which local died here? It was Ianto Jones. Yes it is a shrine to a dead Torchwood character. I’m all for fandom, but that is getting creepy.
Had lunch at Demiros on the quay. I had two traditional Welsh faggots for lunch. They were in fact very nice. I think I might eat faggots more often in future. We also had pitcher of Blue Hawaii for lunch, as it was on special. Was a very nice lunch.
This is the Norwegian Church. It is famous as the place where Road Dahl was baptised. The church was for Norwegian sailors who were in port.
This building is the Welsh Assembly. It is right on the waterfront – a stunning location. I net you the Assembly Members voted on it. The building host basically just the debating chamber. Offices are elsewhere. The debating chamber is circular, as is the visitors gallery above it. There are glass panes so the assembly chamber is cut off from the visitors but they can see you easily. Each visitor seat has a TV screen in which you can watch either the Assembly itself, or the Westminster Parliament or various news channels. So I managed to observe the Welsh Assembly in front of me while also viewing the UK Parliament on the monitor with headphones.
Walking home back through the Sophia Gardens after we got the aqua taxi back to it.
Crossing the Rover Taff.
These were taken Tuesday (Wednesday in NZ). Cardiff is much more enjoyable than I thought it might be. My only complaint is the accent – I’ve never had so many conversations where I have not understood a single word they’re saying to me. Am getting very good at nodding and agreeing a lot. I just hope I have not accidentally agreed to take part in any bomb plots or the like.
June 24th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
“Don’t ever go to Wales Baldrick-It’s a ghastly place. Huge gangs of tough, sinewy men roam the Valleys, terrorizing people with their close-harmony singing. You need half a pint of phlegm in your throat just to pronounce the place names. Never ask for directions in Wales, Baldrick. You’ll be washing spit out of your hair for a fortnight.”
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Great Pics though!!
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
“I had two traditional Welsh faggots for lunch. They were in fact very nice. I think I might eat faggots more often in future.”
WTF??
Have you lined up anyone in particular for your homecoming lunch?
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
As usual, DPF, a great travel piece with really informative photos. Boy, you make a hell of a travel writer.
A special thanks for this post too, as I am going to Wales later this year for a wedding and although my family roots are from South Wales my attitude to the Welsh have tended to be along Longknives’ very funny Blackadder comments above. But now, I think I will tarry awhile in South Wales thanks to your blog. Thanks.
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Those Normans were amazing castle builders. Do you have a year of construction for that keep, DPF?
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Blackadder warning – very funny.
The pics surprised me, I never imagined it like that there, very nice.
It’s weird, I only have a vague idea of what Wales is like and grandparents from one side came from there, albeit the north. I only remember my grandmother saying Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch twice, she was reluctant because she said it dried her mouth out too much. And that was about the sum total of my exposure to my Welsh heritage.
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
My only complaint is the accent – I’ve never had so many conversations where I have not understood a single word they’re saying to me
Don’t ask them for money and they will speak normally.
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Pfft, Doubt many of those buildings would meet 33%< NBS!
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Start drinking Brains beer, and you’ll very quickly learn and understand the Welsh lingo.
My daughter and fiancee lived at Atlantic Wharf in a flat there. About a 10 minute walk to town, passing the old Cardiff Arms Park, now the Millenium Stadium, and Brains Brewery was not far away. What a bloody awful smell it was when the wind was blowing from that direction. Brains is not a very nice tasting beer, but when in Rome……..
I liked Cardiff very much, and would readily go back there for a week or 2.
Lucia Maria.
From memory, Cardiff castle was built about 75 years after the Norman conquest in 1066. So that dates the keep at around mid 12th. cventury. But would pay to check
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
Roald Dahl maybe?
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
My time in Cadiff is limited to 2 days in ’07 after a certian game of rugby I watched …. I was a very angry tourist!
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Sure as fuck I wouldn’t want to go down on a faggot, let alone TWO!!
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Glad your enjoying my home town!
Don’t forget to try Brains beer and Welsh Rarebit!
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
I like the Welsh Assembly building. Would look nice on the Auckland waterfront in place of the plastic Waka and a couple of rusty sheds.
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 6:02 pm
Wales is lovely. English friends warned about about sheep-shaggers – ho ho, very amusing – and that the food would be inedible. In fact about 20 years ago I had one of the best meals of my life in the Beaumaris pub on Anglesey – lamb with leeks and lashings of Cloudy Bay red. The people were great and not just because they despised the English (though it helped). The language, which is what you hear in the street up in Gwynedd, is impenetrable but sounds fantastic, which may be why Welsh is one of the great accents in spoken English.
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
Caerphilly Castle, if you get a chance check it out. Has a double moat, lake defence and triple wall. It’s the stuff nerd castle dreams are made off.
Chuck in the models of old siege engines, was like my old child hood dreams coming true
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Oh and its in Wales too, like a 1.4 hour drive from Cardiff
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
Do you have any other pics of Cardiff Castle David? I couldn’t quite see it in the one you posted as there was a fat geyser blocking the view.
Jeff your description of Caerphillly Castle sounds like my missus when I arrive home tipsy – and sh is half welsh so perhaps that (half) explains it.
Vote:June 24th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
I had the dubious childhood advantage of being shuttled around the world to different countries in pre-school and primary years, one result of which is that I have a pretty good ear for accents and can easily understand quite thick Scots and Welsh accents (living with inner city UK Pakistani and West Indian migrant kids also was a linguistic experience for me).
Vote:I love the Welsh landscape, but it is too close to Pomland.
Childhood experience also “immunised” me against ever wanting to stay in the UK. Nice place to visit, but NZ was such a fabulous place to come back to that earthquakes or not – I’m staying. Also, although I love the Australian people, by golly, our country is so much nicer to live in.
June 25th, 2011 at 7:35 am
Any place that produces Gwen Cooper from Touchwood can’t be too bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwen_Cooper
Vote:June 25th, 2011 at 11:37 am
How come no leeks on the dinner plate?
Vote:June 26th, 2011 at 10:26 am
Wales is great – many a good night had in Cardiff….except after that particular game of rugby a few years back….
If you struggle with the Cardiff accent DPF then don’t head north – it gets even harder to understand!!
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