A September summer’s day in and around Cardiff
It’s always a pleasure to visit Cardiff. I live in New York and, while I love the urban buzz back home, I equally love the same creative buzz of Cardiff yet also its proximity to the Brecon Beacons National Park. Cardiff has got to be pretty close to being the perfect city… walking around this afternoon, the shopping is really good. The arcades and historic buildings complement contemporary fashion chain stores. The Castle and Bute Park provide welcome respite from the crowded shopping streets, and City Hall and National Museum Cardiff overlook the city providing stunning architectural style and diversity. Then there’s Cardiff Bay which I just love; especially searching for Torchwood locations!
First thing this morning I took the bus out to St. Fagans National History Museum. It’s somewhere I’d been intending to visit on my last two visits, so this time I wasn’t to be sidetracked! The bus costs £3 round-trip, departs from the bus station right opposite my hotel, and stops right at the museum entrance.
Here’s the cool thing: all seven national museums in Wales offer free admission, so you don’t have to be constantly thinking: “gosh I’ve spent $20 just to get in this gallery, I’d better stay all day!” It’s a neat opportunity to plan on a quick nosey around which I had done for St. Fagans, however I ended up spending the entire morning there. I would recommend going to St. Fagans in dry weather as most exhibits are outside; today was perfect. So it’s an open-air museum - - curators have restored and presented historical Welsh buildings within the museum grounds, often re-locating them to the site after saving them from demolition stone by stone. And it really is impressive with great attention to detail. Visitors actually enter the buildings and I felt like I was truly walking through Wales’ heritage. The old schoolhouse building, for example, has been faithfully furnished with original desks and materials, and the museum staff on hand all chat to visitors enthusiastically and knowledgeably.
There are even traditional craftsmen working throughout the museum in workshops and mills. As I walked around, I could smell the bread being made, and hear the clogs being shaped.
I particularly loved a row of workers’ cottages which has been transported from Rhyd-y-Car, and furnished to show various decades of the 20th century… cue some dreadful wallpaper, cassette players and furniture; hey, that wasn’t so long ago! There’s also a post-war pre-fab bungalow which was interesting to see. It’s not just Welsh life from the past couple of centuries; there’s also a recreation of a Celtic settlement.
As an added bonus, St. Fagans has its own castle which is part of the museum, and beautiful gardens which were really neat.
All in all, it was a great morning at St. Fagans. I could’ve easily spent more time there as each of the historic buildings is captivating and well presented. I did have a quick look at some of the exhibitions in the gallery, and especially enjoyed seeing Pop Peth, an exhibition curated by four local music fans.
After heading back to downtown Cardiff, I spent the afternoon wandering through some of the shopping arcades and through Bute Park which was looking beautiful in the September sun. Here are some afternoon pics…
|
|
|
|
For good value and the best-located sleeps in Cardiff, I’m staying at Sleeperz hotel again. I stayed here for a couple of nights back in January - - the rooms are quite small but a super-smart design and the staff are super-friendly. Rooms start at just £55 a night and include free wi-fi and free UK telephone calls. Check them out at www.sleeperz.com.