Next Stop Cardiff

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next stop cardiff

Sat drinking my tea out of a Styrofoam cup in the café at Cardiff’s train station, I began to look back on my week in the City, and I couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of sadness, for the past five days I’d been a stranger on my own in a place a fair way from home, and yet I felt like part of the furniture, a complete parallel to my first impressions when I arrived that dreary Monday afternoon.

When I first booked this trip I had this ideal thought of waking in the morning going for a run, spend the days exploring the home of two of my favourite telly shows, catch a rugby match and have a few leisurely beers at the bay, maybe catch a show at the millennium centre. It became apparent in the first hour as I slowly chomped away at my beef curry that none of this was going to come to fruition, for one I hadn’t bought my running attire, and I couldn’t find any mention of rugby matches that week.

It was about seven o’clock when I crashed on the bed in the b&b, my tiring brain was already bored and it was still early, and watching Dave seemed like a particular waste of a first night, so I decided to take the advice of a friend and head for the pub, which I now agree is the best place to help you start getting the lay of the land, although how much of it you remember is dependent on how many bevvy’s go down the hatch.

One thing that did concern me about wondering round a city I didn’t know, and into pubs I’d never been before is the threat of being the victim of crime or drunken confrontations, but nothing ever came, a trend that continued all through my stay.

The next morning with the aid of GPS, I made my way to Cardiff bay, which was quite a bit more of a trek than I’d expected. Took the better part of an hour to actually get there, in hindsight I should of used the bus service. Finally arriving I couldn’t help but think how different it looked on telly, but none the less awesome, the great silver tower protruding from the ground in the depression in front of the great bulk of the Millennium centre, then the geek in me popped up realising I was standing where they shot some of the scene’s for Doctor Who and Torchwood.

But there’s a lot more to Cardiff bay than it’s association with telly, it’s also home to the Welsh national assembly. One thing which I found truly staggering was this part of Cardiff’s past, where I was walking and a good bit of the area around me was once docklands, back in the days where Cardiff Bay was called Tiger Bay, and during the Industrial revolution exported the mined coal from the Welsh valleys. Eventually the area became home to many nationalities, mostly fleeing from their own conflict torn countries. It also became home to Cardiff’s red light district and gambling dens, it also was home to the likes of the singer Shirley Bassey and Rugby player Billy Boston. It seems staggering the changes.

Sat at the side of the river Taff, just across from the b&b I was staying at, is the millennium stadium, the £121 million, 74 and a half thousand seater goliath, that dominates the area. the start of the tour is a building to the left side of the main entrance, the Cardiff arms Café, with a nice bar and shop. With passes donned and going through a brief video intro, our guide lead us on our way.

It seemed strange entering through the staff entrance, wondering around corridors usually roamed by sportsmen and women, and the staff, what I couldn’t help but noticed amidst that was how bare and functional things seemed, even the interview room was, and as we delved deeper into ‘Dragon’s lair’ it continued, everything was just functional, there was no sense of atmosphere no personal touch, even in the dressing rooms, there was no character, apart from a small Feng-shui painting that spanned one of the walls. Despite the pre-recorded roar of the crowd as our small tour, wondered out onto the pitch the whole atmosphere seemed sterile, hard to imagine the place resonating with the electric atmosphere of say a concert or a rugby match, but surely enough it does, I saw it on telly just the other day.

On my first night I thought I’d found my local for the week, but with the promise of entertainment and Guinness I wondered down to a place called O’neill’s, which as got to be one of the best pubs I’ve ever set foot in, the atmosphere was welcoming and warm, the staff made you feel like you were a regular, the food, I think could compete to some of the swankier resteraunts I’d been in to, and to top it off the entertainment was great as well, definitely a place I’d recommend without hesitation.

Nestled just outside the city centre, stands one of Cardiff’s most historic buildings, Cardiff Castle, it’s present look is the culmination of work that as been undertaken since it first was a fort back in Roman times. I guess a wet Wednesday afternoon wasn’t the best time to go for a stroll through the open grounds of the castle, the only cover, when not been on the tour, is from the inside of the castle walls.

Not been an expert on castles I couldn’t really rate it, and I didn’t much listen to the little audio guide gizmo that came with the self tour ticket, mostly because I was getting soaked, but this place I think makes a good metaphor for Cardiff in general, even despite all the modernisation it still holds on to it’s past.

Another piece of Cardiff’s past, is the pier head building on the waterfront of the bay, built in 1897 it became the home of the Cardiff Railway company, and later became the administrive building for the port of Cardiff, now though it’s a museum, leading you through the history of the area and the local heroes of the past, including Aneurin Bevan the man responsible for the beginnings of the NHS. It’s probably the only museum with a coat of arms, bearing the old companies motto "wrth ddŵr a thân", which is Welsh for ‘by fire and water’, which represented the two elements of steam power.



So there I was standing on the platform, ready to go to my next stop, looking back on the week, at the city which felt like it had become my home, a place with such a lot of history, but so modern and cutting edge, the people so warm and welcoming, all I can say is what a city!

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