Cardiff was the first ever city I visited in the United Kingdom though that takes me back more than twenty years to my school years. Back then, we did this trip as part of the English foundation course. I was pretty rubbish at English at the time and frankly don't remember much more than Cardiff castle, the strange looking food at my host family (I remember the peas and carrots on the plate seemed to have some strange neon type colours vs. the more pastel looking ones I was used to) and a good nights of pool at the local pub with some classmates.
This time round the journey to Cardiff was much shorter (e.g. not 1,350km from Dresden), but yet again I travelled by bus. Rather by accident I came across £1,80 return fares (!!!) and couldn’t resist. So off we went, Laura included as she finally got her UK visa sorted. Cardiff is a pretty quiet city with most of the action concentrated in the city center with lively bars and restaurants. The Euro’s 2020 were still on adding to the overall flair and making it incrementally harder to find a free seat – everywhere you have to book in advance and then download the respective app to order & pay (I must have at least 5 new apps on my phone now ;o).
After we arrived, we used the Friday afternoon for a cycle tour using the pay as you go nextbikes (very convenient). We headed for Cardiff bay, about 4km south of the Castle, on what was a sunny day. That is well worth mentioning given Cardiff is the wettest city in the UK. In fact, it rains on 133 days per year (in London just 106 … aren’t we just blessed with good weather).
The evening was filled with football quarterfinals where Spain and Italy progressed to the semi’s. Sad to see the Belgian leave empty handed again.
Laura had organised a walking tour for Saturday, as we would learn the only one in Cardiff and Wales. It is run by Eugene from Ireland and lasted almost 3 hours in what was an entertaining exchange of information, fun facts and stereotypes. We were even lucky with the weather, as the rain kindly paused for the duration of the tour. I am not quite sure where & when the last free walking tour took place, but I think it was in Medellin with my family in October 2019 – seems like ages ago!
Snippets from the walking tour
- The people in the West: Wales was essentially created centuries ago when the Anglo Saxons pushed the Welsh, the original inhabitants of the UK, westwards. Since then there have been many battles with the English, but the last significant (brief) time of independence was under the leadership of Owain Glyndwr in the 15th century. There seems to be some sort of discussion of welsh independence growing, but much softer than in Scotland.
- Castle-mania: With over 600 castles, wales has more per sqm than any other country in the world. However, in terms of castle construction in the past (most of which not surviving to this date), Germany probably leads the pack at an estimated 25,000 structures. There is even a European Castle Institute to research the topic.
- The land of the dragon: There are many theories as to why the Welsh have the dragon on what is a very young flat (1959). Some link the dragon with the Arthurian legends, including Uther Pendragon the father of Arthur whose name translates as “Dragon Head”. It also tells of the prophecy of Merlin of a long fight between a red dragon and a white dragon, symbolising the historical struggle between the Welsh (red dragon) and the English (white dragon). Bhutan is the other world flag featuring a dragon.
Bhutan 
Wales
- Cardiff – a young capital: Cardiff was only proclaimed capital of Wales in 1955 having grown strongly on back of coal exports under the leadership of the Bute family. In fact, Cardiff numbered less than 2,000 inhabitants just 200y ago vs. today’s 360,000.
- Welsh language: The Welsh language is the oldest on the island and about 3000 years old (English “just” 1200y). The language has had somewhat of a renaissance after it has been made compulsory in schools in 1990. Nowadays about 20% of people speak Welsh everyday (just 11% in Cardiff though), which is a great record compared to the other Celtic languages that stretch as far as Galicia in Spain (e.g. in Ireland just 1% still speak it, in Cornwall it seems destined to die out). There are even ~5,000 Welsh speakers in Patagonia having emigrated in the 19th century. One Welsh word I remember all too well is “cwm”, the valley, having walked through the Western Cwm in Nepal on the way up Mt. Lhotse / Mt. Everest (I dreaded that stretch!). In fact, Mt. Everest is named after George Everest – a British surveyor and geographer – from Wales. All makes sense then.
- Rugby – the national sport: Wales is the current 6 nations champion and with 40 titles also the most successful nation in the tournament. The Welsh games are typically played in the Principality stadium with a 75k capacity. One can only imagine the atmosphere when the stadium empties itself into a city of only 360k people. Sounds fun! The sport is also a big part of national identity, as it is here that Wales can compete above their weight. In particular the long term 50/50 record vs. England is remarkable.
Fun fact: It was the welsh who introduced the national anthem before sport events. In 1905 they played the All Blacks (NZ Rugby team) and sang the anthem (“Land of our fathers”) in response to the Kiwi’s doing their haka.
- Welsh food: Not a cuisine I have come across much in my 19 years in the UK. The guide mentioned Welsh rarebit (cheese on toast), lamb stew (9m sheep in Wales vs. 3m people … just like in New Zealand), Glamorgan sausage (vegetarian cheese sausage) and Welsh cakes (flour based, 1.5cm thick and round – eaten hot or cold). The latter we tried at Cardiff food market and loved it! I guess one should not forget to mention the leek – the Welsh national vegetable (I guess in Germany the tomato would be the equivalent).
After the walking tour, watching EURO 2020 football resumed and England made it to the semi’s by steamrolling Ukraine 4:0. Maybe it is their year after all?
