18-19 July, 2004
Cardiff
The
journey from London went smoothly and after
2.5 hours I saw Cardiff for the first time. After another 20 minutes we found ourselves outside
the violet and yellow building of the Cardiff Backpackers. No four-poster beds,
but a good location, friendly staff, well-equipped kitchen and plenty of
leaflets and brochures plus a simple but delicious Indian restaurant across the
street. My first impression of Cardiff was similar to the one I almost invariably have upon
arriving in a new town – that of a vague abandonment, of something sinister
lurking beneath the city surface. But I know these are just impressions, most
likely formed after the reading of Trezza Azzopardi's The Hiding Place,
a moving tale about a family, immigration, poverty and a life in 1960s Cardiff that leaves very few
choices… But by daylight Cardiff appears to be a ‘down-to-earth, no-nonsense‘
city with the Castle and the Millennium Stadium dominating the center and
combining what seems to be the essence of the place – a historic town enjoying
its present and looking into the future.
We spent the first day walking
around the city and sightseeing. I enjoyed a stroll in Bute park near the castle with wonderful
flowerbeds which you so rarely see in public places in Poland. (I wonder why…). Cardiff Castle
turned out to be a mixture of a Roman fort and a medieval stronghold
transformed into a Victorian fantasy palace by the architect William Burges
employed by John, the 3rd Marquess of Bute, who by the 1860s was probably the
richest man in the world. (his father turned Cardiff into the world's greatest coal
exporting port).
After a nice lunch of antipasti and
broccoli and stilton soup we went to see Cardiff Bay with its modern waterside
architecture and the impressive Wales Millennium Centre with a huge inscription
running across one of its walls: In these stones horizons sing…
20 July, 2004
Cardiff – St Fagans – Museum of Welsh Life
I have always liked open air
museums, so St Fagans was on my must see list. I went, I saw, and I was not
disappointed. The museum stands in beautiful countryside and the variety of
things to see is quite impressive; there is a pottery, a sawmill, a tollhouse,
a re-created Celtic village, a house for the future, numerous farmhouses, St Fagans
Castle and a beautiful, quiet rosary (my personal favourite) with over 100
varieties of roses.
21 July 2001
Caerphilly Castle
Today we took another
short trip out of town to Caerphilly Castle – the biggest one in Wales, a ‘massive giant’ of a castle
resting calmly on a small hill among tea houses, shops and houses. It still
looks impressive if a bit lonely; one of its towers leans in towards the town
as if it was curious to see what lies beyond the castle walls. In the courtyard
a stage had been set up, ready for a performance by a local theatre group. So
there is life beyond the castle walls… After the visit to the castle we
lingered over tea in the nearby café and took a bus to Llandaff Cathedral, a
beautiful church literally tucked away in a green hollow, so that we had to
‘look down on it’ before entering it.
The
evening was a highlight of our stay. We were invited to dinner at Nicky
Thompson’s house (a friend of a friend from London). Hospitality is certainly her
middle name and together with her husband she made us feel very welcome and
made our short stay in Wales truly special. Do you know many people who would open their
homes and hearts, light 50 candles and cook delicious food for 7 strangers? It
was certainly an evening to remember and savour – just look at the list of what
we had…
Leek
and potato soup with Melba toast
Lamb
with redcurrant/mint sauce and potatoes
Vegetarian
sausages (leeks and cheese on a bed of spinach and cream)
Pavlova’s
dessert
A
plate of different types of cheese and grapes and delicious wine
Caernarfon
“Travelling
the world did not broaden my mind. It just made me realize what I had left
behind and brought me closer to the day of knowing me, in my own way”. I found
this quote on the wall in our hostel just before we set off on our journey to
the north of Wales. Our destination was Bangor and Snowdon – we were hoping to hop
on the small train that winds its way to the top of the mountain and see Snowdon the easy way, but the
train broke down and we had to put the trip off till the next day, which turned
out to be drier and sunnier.
We arrived in Caernarfon in the
afternoon and went straight to Totters, a hostel in the center of the town, a
five-minute walk from the impressive castle. When we got there it turned out
that the owner was in the process of… preparing his own wedding party. The
hostel was already full of his family but he took in the seven ladies, thus
making it possible for us to spend the night in a 200
year-old house with a 600-year old breakfast and kitchen area in the basement.
The rooms are pleasant, clean and tastefully decorated and the living room has
plenty of books, films and comfortable sofas. It can certainly feel like a home
away from home and very good value for money.
After a meal in a
Chinese restaurant (a mistake) we visited the castle (how could we not?) and
went for a long walk along the quiet beach. I loved the castle with its strong
walls and green grass in the courtyard, narrow passages and towers. (The
brochure said that it was designed to echo the walls of Constantinople, the
imperial power of Rome and the dream-castle.
Successfully, I would say). On our way back I saw this story displayed in a
restaurant window: A young Jewish boy, a member of a gang comes home,
bleeding profusely, begging for help. His mother says: “First sit and eat. Then
we will talk”.
23- 24 July, 2004
Snowdon – Portmeirion - Aberystwyth
The
second attempt at Snowdon was successful – we bought the tickets, settled in the small train and
admired half of the views on the way to the top. The other half was enveloped
in fog and we only caught occasional glimpses of the slopes and ravines. The
fog was quite dense when we reached the top, so we listened to the sound of the
view, as somebody with a similar experience once fittingly commented. If I ever
come back I will climb the mountain like all normal people do. I will be fitter
and £20 richer.
The
next place we visited was Portmeirion - another architectural fantasy that Wales has to offer. It was
built in the 1920s by Clough Williams– Ellis to show that “the development of a
naturally beautiful site need not lead to its defilement”. His motto was:
Cherish
the past
Adorn
the Present
Construct
for the Future
…and my God the place is adorned. It
is so sweet it seems unreal – pink and blue and yellow houses, orange roofs, a
mixture of all architectural styles, winding streets, all set against the
background of beautiful plants and just a short walk away from a beautiful,
quiet beach. Still, it seems strangely consoling and I wouldn’t mind spending a
night in one of those fantasy houses or towers.
It seems we are moving between the
extremes today. From the foggy Snowdon, we went straight to a fantasy world of Portmeirion and
landed in Aberystwyth, in cheap student accommodation which is so depressing
that I feel like going out and sleeping on a pier jutting out into the sea. Ma³gosia
has bought a comic thriller by Malcolm Pryce's - Aberystwyth Mon Amour,
which tells the story of Louie Knight, the town's only private investigator,
trying to find out what happened to the schoolboys vanishing without trace. My
suspicion is that they stayed where we are staying and after a night in a place
like that, left the town in search of better accommodation.
Having said that, however, I really
liked the remains of the castle on a small hill – they were so well kept, with
intensely green grass and flowerbeds among empty walls opening up to the sky.
25 July, 2004
Cardiff
We
booked an afternoon coach, so we still had time to explore a bit more of
Cardiff and went to the National Museum and Gallery, where I really enjoyed the
Buried Treasure exhibition; to think that so many beautiful and delicate
objects waited under the ground for the hand of a chance gardener, farmer or a
beachcomber to come back to life…
After our return from Wales we had 2 days left to
explore London, so we went to the National
Portrait Gallery to see an exhibition Off the Beaten Track – 300 years of
Women Travellers. We might not have been as courageous and adventurous as
all those ladies exploring Africa and the Middle East long before planes, e-tickets and credit cards, but I
thought that 7 determined, contemporary women with their hearts set on
discovering things on their own contributed nicely, if modestly, to that
tradition, don’t you think?
