I have always been fascinated by Wales for its castles and rolling hills. Adding to that were the references to places in some of my favourite books and TV shows (The Dark is Rising series and Torchwood respectively, were two main examples). As such, when the opportunity came to visit, I took it up at once.
This blog post covers the first section of our five-day trip in Wales. Two more posts will follow.
Our first stop on this trip was Cardiff, the largest city in Wales. Located in south Wales, the city was an easy two-hour train ride from London's Kings Cross Station to Cardiff Central station. It was largely an uneventful journey, passing rapidly through the English countryside.
After a quick check in to our hotel, we spent the our afternoon with visit to Cardiff Castle. The castle had several different sections to visit, but the two main ones were the ruined keep and the mansion. The keep ruins were situated on top of a mound, and as such, had good views of the city and the surrounding parklands.
The mansion served as a partially restored museum that showcased what the furnishings and lavishly decorated interiors would have looked like when it was in use.
We wandered the city centre a little after visiting the castle, before slowly making our way down to Cardiff Bay.
I was interested in checking out the Cardiff Bay area largely due to the fact that the Torchwood Hub, the main location for the Doctor Who spinoff, was set there. Specifically, it was at (or rather, under) Roald Dahl Plass. I feel like a bit of a nerd admitting that..
Early the next morning, we headed out to Cardiff Market to look for food, but found out that it opened at a later time than I had expected (Going by the assumption that markets tended to start early, fresh produce and all that). As a result, we headed to a nearby cafe for breakfast before heading back to the markets after it had opened.
As we had some spare time, we wandered around the city centre a little more after that, passing the City Hall/Civic Centre, then spotting Optimus Prime in the central square.
Shortly after, we checked out of our hotel, then caught our scheduled train, leaving Cardiff to continue on to our next destination.
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Till the next time, where I talk about long train rides..
Raylen