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The City is acclaimed for its Civic Centre with many buildings made of white
portland stone, including the National Museum and Gallery, Cathay's Park,
and City Hall. Still in the heart of the City located off High Street are
the fascinating Edwardian Arcades, lined with specialist shops retaining
their original facades, and the Victorian covered market that together with
up to date modern shopping precincts give Cardiff one of the finest shopping
centres in Great Britain. Yet High Street and St Mary Street owe their layout
to their alignment with the Gateway to the ancient Cardiff Castle.
Cardiff Castle is the jewel in the crown featuring Roman and Norman fortification
and although it is an impressive site one needs to enter the Castle to fully
appreciate the fantastic extraordinarily ornate decorative schemes throughout
this idealised medieval Castle. The castle grounds are home to The Welsh
Regiment Museum, and The Queen's Dragoon Guards Museum, and just a stone's
throw from the castle is the Millennium Stadium, already an iconic building
praised for its atmosphere by  both
football and rugby supporters alike.
Cardiff Bay has in recent years undergone substantial redevelopment and
the key to the revitalised waterside is the barrage across the estuary of
the Taff and Ely rivers. This has created a non tidal freshwater lake with
an 8 mile waterfront that provides a setting for new developments, including
the new Welsh Assembly Government building and the fantastic Millennium
Centre, home to the Welsh National Opera, and a showpiece Welsh performing
arts venue.  The
Bay has been transformed into a stunning waterfront with a wealth of attractions,
and leisure facilities including the science museum "Techniquest",
the Norwegian Church, now a cafe and art gallery, Harry Ramsdens restaurant,
and the Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum. A number of boat tours
operate from Mermaid Quay, which allow you to gain an understanding of the
history and fauna of this exciting area. Cardiff Waterbus has introduced
a new taxi service which operates throughout the year from the Bay to the
city centre and Penarth.
Other attractions in Cardiff include : the National Museum and Gallery,
housing the second largest Impressionist collection after Paris; the fairytale
Castell Coch (Red Castle),  set
in the wooded hillside north of the City; the Rhondda Heritage Park, a former
coal mine recreating a grueling underground life; and The Museum of Welsh
Life at St Fagans, a living village representing
Wales through the ages. For culture vultures Cardiff is a hive of activity
with music and drama top of the bill. Besides the forementioned Millennium
Centre Cardiff is also a city of festivals including a month long summer
street festival, "Music in the Bay" events and the well established
and respected "Cardiff Singer of the World" competition held in
St David's Hall. In brief Cardiff offers tourists a great time with plenty
of things to do and places to see plus the opportunity not always available
on City visits, the chance to sample Wales beautiful scenery, the mountains,
valleys and spectacular coastline .........all within easy travelling distance
of the City of Cardiff. |
century
and early 19th century, when Wales could be said to have become the world's
first industrial nation, the iron masters and colliery owners of the South
Wales valleys needing an outlet to the sea for their booming businesses
chose Cardiff at the head of the River Taff. In the 1790's the Bute family
built the Glamorganshire canal to join Cardiff with Merthyr Tydfil. The
Taff Vale Railway to Merthyr and the Rhondda was built in the 1840's. The
Butes owned vast areas of the coal rich Welsh valleys and in 1839 the second
Marquis who built much of present day Cardiff created the first Cardiff
Dock, others followed in quick succession, and all the coal and iron from
the Welsh valleys was exported from these docks. The town was reborn as
an important trading centre, and by the start of the 20th century Cardiff
had become one of the world's leading ports. Today Cardiff is a modern city
with over 320,000 inhabitants established on the wealth of the vast coal
empire, and the city is fast becoming one of Europe's finest maritime cities
with the added bonus of being surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside
in Britain.
