To wrap up November, I organised a last minute trip to Cardiff the capital of Wales to watch a fairly important rugby game. Wales is playing against Australia’s Wallabies on the final match of this autumn’s international games.
It is my first time Ieaving England to explore more of the United Kingdom. Wales is one of the 4 main countries composing the UK. In other words, Wales is a country inside a country with its capital and main city Cardiff. The city is nice and vibrant however small but I did enjoy my week-end there with the rugby.
The trip from London to Cardiff takes about 4 hours by bus including a short stop in Bristol, England (I had the opportunity to quickly see the city centre from on-board) and then crosses the bridge linking England and Wales. After this bridge, there is a feeling of a slight change that doesn’t have a significant impact… but I see lot of Welsh flags and Gaelic (Welsh language) this shows lot of patriotism and pride from the population. Around the city, the red dragon flag is everywhere. I only spotted 2 Union Jack flags the whole week-end. It was definitely the feeling of being in a new country… Welcome to Wales!
For the rugby game, there have been lot of excitement since tickets got released and the country gets ready to support its team. The Millennium Stadium is host of the game and is a huge stadium welcoming major games and the biggest concerts. All seats were sold out and the whole stadium was wearing red or green to show support to Wales. Australian fans were not really enough to hear them singing the national anthem but few made their way from across the UK to see the game.
I’m not Welsh nor Australian so I wanted to stay neutral and got face paintings for both teams so everyone is happy! But it was not really the case… The Welsh lost to Oz! I was with an Aussie and I shared her joy by waving the Australian flag but we both wanted to witness the Welsh fans celebrating their victory at home! Rugby isn’t a popular sport in Morocco. This being my second time watching it, I start to appreciate it more.
It felt like there were actually celebrations or apparently just a much more busy typical Saturday night, the night was so long that I couldn’t sleep… not because I party till late but because my hostel as recommended by the Welsh tourist board was on the busiest street of the city. My room’s window looks straight over this street which got empty until 7 in the morning. Not surprising but it shows that people definitely party and drink a lot more than the average in Cardiff.
Anyway, the next morning it was for sightseeing. I stayed at the city center so I had the opportunity to walk a lot around there and see Cardiff Castle. But something apparently unmissable in the city is Cardiff Bay a bit further away from the center so I walked down there with my friend. Public signs are bilingual in Wales as you could spot in the pictures under.
The bay is really nice, it has various landmarks such as The Millennium Centre and the Pierhead, amazing buildings by their colors and their architecture. I had a walk around but it is fairly small that I just spent the rest of my day at The National Museum. This museum is about Natural History and Art in Wales especially and the rest of the world. Then while waiting for the bus back to London I just took a coffee indoors to avoid staying outside in the cold weather.
And I think that’s it… That was my week-end in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. I did enjoy the rugby very much. It has been an incredible experience that I look forward to do again. The vibes in the stadium and the whole city are incredible. I will write again a list of my top attractions in Cardiff later. Stay tuned!
Nice! Glad to hear you enjoyed Cardiff!
Thanks Alex 🙂