A 9:00am flight doesn't sound so early when you book it, but when you work backwards it becomes rather early...
The plane to Cardiff was tiny, probably less than fifty people in one of those aircraft with propellers on the wings. The "international" airport at Cardiff was just as small too, it was like landing at Lilydale airport (I imagine, I've never been there), there was one small luggage carousel and then we were in a car park with a bus stop, and that was it...
Obviously there was no food court or duty free shopping, but there didn't appear to be any tourist information either. We missed a bus by something like thirty seconds, at least the next one was only about 15-20 minutes away, which was remarkable considering our bus departed with only one other passenger.
The bus dropped us off at Cardiff Bay, not far from the hotel. After managing to check-in early again it was off to the redeveloped bay area called Mermaid Quay floors lunch.
There was a lot of stuff around the bay area, like a smaller version of the city centre:
The city was about 1-2 kilometers walking distance, so we got the "water bus" up the river. Once we left the bay and entered the river the colour changed into a Yarra River level of brown, the sides were full of washed up plastic bottles and various sports balls, there were hundreds of them.
The first, and last, stop was in the park just outside Cardiff Castle. I couldn't tell from the outside if it was worth going in, but got a ticket anyway, for 12 pounds. It was better than I expected as there a good amount to see. The audio guide narrator had a rather annoying voice and kept going on about some Capability Brown guy - possibly the dumbest sounding name I've ever heard.
Some of the things to see inside were:
I had a bit of time in the late afternoon to visit the city centre, starting at the souvenir shop for a magnet then continuing on:
The Millennium Stadium was near the end of the city, but there were roads and other buildings around so it wasn't very accessible from the south side.
So I walked back to Cardiff Bay to find somewhere for dinner, along the way the area seemed like it was filled with quite cheap housing, which was a little odd given the proximity to the city and the bay. A few hundred metres across the other side of the main road and train line the properties looked much more modern though.
For dinner we settled on Eddie's Diner, which was not related to Eddie Rocket's at all. I ordered the nachos which were a big disappointment, they were served with this artificial cheese sauce instead of proper melted cheese. After dinner we went for a run all the way around the bottom of the bay and across into Penarth, it was a good route.
The hotel review:
- 6:20 - Breakfast and packing
- 6:30 - Leave hotel
- 6:45 - Bus for the airport
- 7:20 - Arrive at the airport
- 8:00 - Complete airport procedures
- 9:10 - Flight departs
The plane to Cardiff was tiny, probably less than fifty people in one of those aircraft with propellers on the wings. The "international" airport at Cardiff was just as small too, it was like landing at Lilydale airport (I imagine, I've never been there), there was one small luggage carousel and then we were in a car park with a bus stop, and that was it...
Obviously there was no food court or duty free shopping, but there didn't appear to be any tourist information either. We missed a bus by something like thirty seconds, at least the next one was only about 15-20 minutes away, which was remarkable considering our bus departed with only one other passenger.
The bus dropped us off at Cardiff Bay, not far from the hotel. After managing to check-in early again it was off to the redeveloped bay area called Mermaid Quay floors lunch.
There was a lot of stuff around the bay area, like a smaller version of the city centre:
- Mermaid Quay - Restaurants
- Millennium Centre - A Bronze building with Welsh words I couldn't read
- Roald Dahl Plass - A square named after the author, had lots of kids rides, a carousel and some water tower
- Norwegian church
- Dr Who Experience - A warehouse based on the show, probably a combination of exhibits and interactive stuff, there was one of those police boxes at the dock
 |
| The Millennium Centre. |
 |
| Roald Dahl Plass, so where's the chocolate factory? |
 |
| A Norweigan church in Wales. |
 |
| It's a pierhead. |
The city was about 1-2 kilometers walking distance, so we got the "water bus" up the river. Once we left the bay and entered the river the colour changed into a Yarra River level of brown, the sides were full of washed up plastic bottles and various sports balls, there were hundreds of them.
 |
| Water train would have been better. |
 |
| I'm on a boat. |
The first, and last, stop was in the park just outside Cardiff Castle. I couldn't tell from the outside if it was worth going in, but got a ticket anyway, for 12 pounds. It was better than I expected as there a good amount to see. The audio guide narrator had a rather annoying voice and kept going on about some Capability Brown guy - possibly the dumbest sounding name I've ever heard.
Some of the things to see inside were:
- Trebuchet
- Fallout shelter tunnels - My favourite part, lots of old posters about world war rationing, like playing Fallout 3 for real
- Outer walls
- The keep - The big tower in the middle of the grounds, great view from the top, incredibly narrow stairs to get there
- Main building - access was very limited, some expensive old furnishings
 |
| A trebuchet and the keep. |
 |
| The main castle building. |
 |
| Inside the castle walls. |
 |
| Chips? |
 |
| Old kitchen. |
 |
| The castle grounds. |
 |
| Lots of gold. |
I had a bit of time in the late afternoon to visit the city centre, starting at the souvenir shop for a magnet then continuing on:
- Queen's Arcade - Not much there
- St David's Shopping Centre - A large centre that spans a couple of streets, sadly the Cardiff City FC shop was gone
- St Mary Street - Had a lot of old arcades (not the video game type)
 |
| The city. |
The Millennium Stadium was near the end of the city, but there were roads and other buildings around so it wasn't very accessible from the south side.
 |
| Millennium Stadium. |
So I walked back to Cardiff Bay to find somewhere for dinner, along the way the area seemed like it was filled with quite cheap housing, which was a little odd given the proximity to the city and the bay. A few hundred metres across the other side of the main road and train line the properties looked much more modern though.
For dinner we settled on Eddie's Diner, which was not related to Eddie Rocket's at all. I ordered the nachos which were a big disappointment, they were served with this artificial cheese sauce instead of proper melted cheese. After dinner we went for a run all the way around the bottom of the bay and across into Penarth, it was a good route.
 |
| Nacho. |
The hotel review:
- Free breakfast again
- Fairly spacious
- Location just alright, half way between the bay and the city
- Terribly slow internet, varying from to 10-100 kilobytes
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