Cardiff, Wales

In keeping in line with one of our travel goals to see different parts of the UK, we ventured west to Wales one Saturday for a day-trip via Megabus. Our destination was Cardiff based on other expat friends and work colleagues insisting that  a day was all the time needed to see the city. And how right they were. Collectively, we spent 6 hours on the return trip by bus but only 6 hours in the city centre walking around to see the main sites, including a trip by boat around the harbour as we were running out of ways to amuse ourselves.



Cardiff City

Whilst visiting the city, we did note that the streets were very quiet and theorized that the locals may well have been drowning their sorrows after Australia beat Wales in the 3rd place final at the Rugby World Cup. So with that in mind, we made a conscious effort not to mention that we were Aussies as we started to hunt our way around the city centre.

Freezing wind, but at least the sun was out

Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle is central to the city and next to the main shopping strip. We decided not to visit inside the castle, as it was just another one of a long string of Norman / Medieval fortresses we have seen over the past 6 months - stone building fatigue has started to build up.

Cardiff castle at dusk

Castle is built on the original Roman settlement

Mermaid Quay
Instead we spent most of the time wandering around the high street and made our way to Mermaid Quay - an entertainment precinct that was similar to the Docklands area in Melbourne. For lunch we found a small market where we ate a very tasty roast pork with stuffing bap (bun). This was one of our highlights from our trip.

Mermaid Quay contains the city's collection of restaurants and bars, all bordering Cardiff Bay and attracting more tourists than the central CBD. Arriving there around 2pm, the cold sea breeze was making life a bit uncomfortable. As such we decided to catch a boat cruise - paying £5 each to hop onto a enclosed centrally heated vessel for 45 minutes as it did a slow lap around the bayside developments. However, without active commentary and being rather cozy, Mei quickly fell asleep whilst Olie walked around taking happy snaps.

Mermaid Quay - Docklands area

Taking a cruise along the bay

Boats at the marina

The protest board petitioning for the
return of the Torchwood character Ianto Jones

Bosphorus Restaurant

Before we knew it, the boat trip was finished and there was little else to do but count down the hours until the bus departure back to London and find somewhere to eat for dinner. We selected a restaurant based on reviews on Google Places. We did try to seek out a traditional Welsh option, however we ended up settling in at the Bosphorus Restaurant at Mermaid Quay for a 4-course Turkish feast washed down with Turkish beer Efes.

Mixed dips - cold starter

Filo pastry, sausage, fried cheese and falafel

Mixed grill platter

Grill tuna steak and roast vegetables

Baklava, stuffed apricot and milk pudding

Return Journey
After dinner, we worked off the kilojoules by walking back to the bus terminal for our ride back to London. On the way, we noticed a strange smell of raw sewerage from within our coach. A couple of people started to complain to the driver, who advised us all to not use the toilet as it was broken. As our tour provider was Megabus, we quickly realised that you get what you pay for and swore off any future budget coach trips for anything greater than three hours in duration.

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