Anturio ym Cymru 6/501

Luckily for me (and the completion of this 501 cities task) my sister lives in Cardiff, so I have ventured there a few times already this year, and am off there again next week. This means that rather then cram everything into one day of frantic sight seeing and very worn out feet we are taking our time in exploring the Welsh capital.

(First time we heard this played somewhere other than our rooms)

So obviously, our first priorities were where to get decent cocktails (definitely NOT Tiger Tiger club - a whole pint of orange juice does not a tequila sunrise make) and where to get cheap Sushi. Us Hitch's don't ask for much. But even then Cardiff is surprisingly lacking. Having spent 5 years in a backwater town in Wales with an AMAZING if not somewhat overpriced Japanese restaurant, I was expecting to at least have some diversity in an actual city. But so far we have only managed to find Yo -sushi & our tired legs could only drag us as far as TGI Fridays for decent old fashioneds and pretty bar tenders.

Big tip for anyone planning on walking from the town centre to the bay. DO NOT FOLLOW THE RIVER. The bay is quite far away from the centre of town, but is well worth a look at if only for the obligatory attempt to get into Torchwood. However, even though logic predicts that the river will eventually lead to the sea, I neglected to take into account that it would also meander in the largest of loops - through a very rough neighbourhood- before it got there. No, there are plenty of buses that take you there for less than a pound, a much more sensible idea. If you ever get a chance to go to the Wales Millennium Centre, jump at it. It is styled as a traditional theatre mashed up with Swedish Bathhouse chic and I spent a large amount of my time in there just working out how they made the wood do that. It also has amazing acoustics (although combined with horrendously steep stairs).

On the other hand, I would not recommend paying to go to Cardiff Castle. It dominates the city centre and backs onto the beautiful Bute Park, but that is the best views it has to offer. Neffi and I were scandalised at how much we had to pay to get in, and once inside were really disappointed by the lack of historical information available and the sparseness of sites to see that could not already be viewed from outside. There are plenty of other castles near by that are both cheaper, Raglan, and more impressive, Caerphilly.


Next up: The Millennium Stadium to see Take That