Snapshot Sunday: Cardiff Bay, Wales

Cardiff Bay, capital city of Wales is a home to a large freshwater lake for sailing and water sports. It is not just an ordinary bay, it does offer few notable buildings that rich with their own kind of history and culture such Wales Millenium Centre, Norwegian Church, Pierhead Building, The Seneed and more.

For more, check out my old travel post: Cardiff Bay and It's Attractions

Rhossilli & Three Cliff Bay of Swansea, Wales [Repost]

Date of Visited: 30th June 2008

Rhossilli, Swansea
Rhossilli is a small village near Swansea of Wales. It is an area designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At the southern end of the bay is the outcrop of rock called the "Worm's Head".

Rhossilli Down and the beach

Worm's Head with causeway exposed at low tide

 

Being owned and protected by National Trust

Three Cliff Bay, Swansea

The bay takes its name from the three sea cliffs that jut out into the bay. The beach is an important asset for locals and visitors and routinely qualifies for Blue Flag status. As a consequence, dogs are banned from the beach between May and September. Three Cliff Bay also appeared in a music video entry for The Red Hot Chilli Pepper.

Saw the three cliff?

Nicole Hui Xiang and I at the beach
 

Also being owned and protected by National Trust

One thing I like about Wales is...everywhere you go, sure you will see dogs..Dogs are everywhere; here and there...

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Cardiff City Center & Barry Island, Wales

Date of Visited: 29th June 2008

We spend most of our morning visited Cardiff Bay and after that, we were given opt either to sightseeing around Cardiff city center, the capital of Wales or a small tiny little island known as Barry Island. The main activity that can be done in Cardiff City center is mostly shopping and since because we are not shopaholics, hence we decided to visit the Barry Island. Plus, we might able to sightseeing around Cardiff City for few hours after back from Barry Island. 

Having our lunch at a random restaurant of Queen Street before depart to Barry Island.



The atmosphere of most typical restaurant can be found in United Kingdom.

Cardiff Railway Station, this is where we travelled to Barry Island by train. 

Inside the train. Almost looks alike our Malaysia's KTM but this is way much better because it is not so crowded and more systematic.

The journey from Cardiff City Center to Barry Island wasn't that long as what we expected. It took less than an hour by train. Barry Island is a seaside resort, forming part of the town in South Wales. Barry's stretch of coast has the world's second highest tidal range, of 15 metres (49 ft). 

Then only we realised that we didn't brought extra spare of clothes with us cause we're never expecting that we will going to visit an island. Hence, we tried to avoid from enter into the water and just taking photo around the area. 

After that, we went back to Cardiff City centre. Before heading back to our backpack loudge, there a few buildings you shouldn't miss when visiting Wales.
 

1. Cardiff Castle - Cardiff may only have been a city for 100 years, but there has been a castle here for nearly 2000 years. Tours of the castle interior take place throughout the day, or visitors can just enjoy a stroll around the picturesque Castle gardens. The newly opened 6m pound Interpretation Centre will also present for the first time the story of the Castle and its 2000 years of history, offering visitors a unique opportunity to learn about the different phases of the Castle's development from the Romans through to the modern day.

 

2. Millennium Stadium - When the stadium isn't hosting major sports matches or concerts you can take a tour of the 74,000 seater stadium. Walk down the player's tunnel, try out the Queen's seat in the Royal box and discover how they removed the curse from the away-team changing rooms.

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Next Post>> Swansea

Cardiff Bay & Its Attractions

Date of Visited: 29th June 2008

Before this, I had talked about Wales before but this time around, we will know more about Wales. Wales is my first overnight trip during my study at United Kingdom.

Wales is not a country but eventually it is one of the four "home nations" that make up the United Kingdom. The other 3 home nations are England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales is rich in history and natural beauty and has a culture distinct from the rest of the UK. Travelers are attracted to Wales because of its beautiful landscape, the wide open spaces of its stunning national parks and the wealth of history and culture. 

Our first destination on the first day was Cardiff Bay, a home to a large freshwater lake for sailing and water sports. It has been redeveloped in the last decade by the old Cardiff docklands.

View of Cardiff Bay

Besides the infamous bay, there are few of Cardiff Bay's notable buildings you shouldn't miss out:

1. Wales Millenium Centre is an art centre that presents international opera, ballet, modern dance and musical. "Art Sherpas" sun tours of the front and backstage areas and free live music performances take place in the foyer everyday lunchtime. The Wales Millenium Centre is home to the Welsh National Opera.

2. Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre - The Bay Visitor Centre, also known as The Tube is a home to exhibitions and displays on the history and development of Cardiff Bay, including a scale model of the entire city.

The other side of The Tube looks like 

3. Norwegian Church was first established in Cardiff Bay to serve the large community of Norwegian sailors working in the docks. Its main claim to fame is as the church where author Roald Dahl was christened - today, however, it has been converted into a cafe and art gallery.

It's also an art centre and a coffee shop.

 

4. Pierhead Building - contains an interactive exhibition on the role of the National Assembly. The clock of the building is unofficially known as "Baby Big Ben".

5. The Seneed is the home of the Welsh Assembly Government's debating chamber, where visitors can join a tour of the eco-friendly building, or watch Assembly debates from the public viewing gallery.

There are also few number of unique buildings and art statue while we're strolling around the Cardiff Bay

Next Post>> Cardiff City Center & Barry Island