Cardiff, Wales

September 22, 2017 -  Day 11 of our trip took us to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, a port city on the south coast, where the River Taff meets the Severn Estuary. Although the primary language spoken here is English, there is an effort to increase the population of Welsh speaking citizens, and presently an estimated 11%-15% of the population speaks both languages. Most of the public signs are in both languages as well.

We only spent one night here, arriving early in the day from Bath, giving us time for a short walk around Cardiff Bay, a water taxi trip to the downtown area, and a tour of Cardiff Castle.

We saw many castles during our time in the UK (and Ireland), in various stages of preservation and/or restoration, with some no more than a few crumbling walls, and others that have been painstakingly restored to resemble something close to its original state. After a while, the stories about them start to sound the same, the landscape between them starts to blur, and after the novelty of actually being in a centuries-old castle wears off, the repetitiveness of the experience can lead to castle fatigue.

That being said, Cardiff Castle was definitely an exception, and a standout event. Although the original castle dates back to the late 11^th century, the interior rooms that we toured were designed and renovated in the mid-19^th century by John-Crichton-Stuart, Lord Bute, one of the Marquesses of Bute. He remodeled the castle in a Gothic revival style, lavishing the family’s extreme wealth from the coal industry on interior design, and is considered to be amongst the most magnificent achievements of the gothic revival.

We sent nearly three hours at this castle, it was that remarkable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so ornate in my entire life! Every square inch of the rooms we toured was fastidiously detailed and decorated.

We had a very knowledgeable tour guide who was able to explain the theme in every room we visited (including bedrooms, a library, the Arab room, a rooftop garden, a nursery for the four children, smoking room, a banquet room, and so on). Even though at first glance one may not realize the significance of the designs, carvings, paintings, gildings, placement of windows, etc., nothing in any of the rooms were there by chance. Everything had purpose and meaning and tied in to the grander scheme.

Our pictures can’t really do this place justice, it was just incredible, and takes the notion of ornate to new heights. Interestingly, the area of the castle that Lord Bute’s wife claimed for herself was strikingly bare. Plain painted walls, with maybe one large mirror and a couple of paintings. Evidently, she got tired of all the busyness of the other rooms

Bath, England

September 20, 2017 -  On Day 10 of our UK trip, we drove from Salisbury to Bath, and we were both a little stressed dealing with the driving situation again. It wasn’t a long drive, just under 45 miles total, and most of it was out of any city limits. Due to my slow navigation skills, and Dan having to focus on the road, we missed a few key turns, and instead of driving straight to the hotel, as planned, we ended up in the middle of downtown Bath…Oops! We finally made it to the hotel, and after getting checked in, took off on foot to begin our tour of Bath.

I liked Bath a lot! Not as small or quaint as Salisbury, it still had a comfortable feel to it, and I really liked the City Center, the small downtown hub for tourists, shopping, and dining, with Bath Abbey, a centuries old Anglican church, the towering centerpiece of the town. The main attraction in Bath, is of course, the Roman Baths, and the city is also well known for its particular style of architecture. Everything was walking distance from our hotel, making our stay here very convenient.

One of the reasons we had rented the car was so we could drive into the Cotswolds, a rural area of south central England, defined by its rolling gills, medieval villages, churches, and stately homes built of distinctive local yellow limestone. The 102-mile Cotswold Way walking trail follows the Cotswold Edge escarpment from Bath in the south to Chipping Campden in the north. Our plan was to drive maybe 30 miles into the area and do a day hike on part of the Cotswold Way. As it turned out, we were both so done with the car, and it was raining and not conducive to hiking, so we turned the car in early and ended up getting just a peak of the Cotswold Way from where it terminates (or begins) in Bath. 

We spent time walking around downtown and along the River Avon. We found an old church and cemetery, saw people living in their river RV’s, aka houseboats, walked along a lot of cobbled streets, tried a Cornish pasty, admired the unique Bath architecture, had lunch at a vegan/vegetarian restaurant called Green Rocket Café, and picked up some dinner supplies so we could have dinner in our hotel room. This consisted of a loaf of sourdough bread, a carton of hummus, pre-packaged salad dressed with soy sauce and lemon, and a bottle of wine. Simple food, just what we were craving, and so satisfying!

We spent the better part of one afternoon touring The Roman Baths. This complex is a major tourist attraction, receiving more than 1 million visitors a year. Visitors are not allowed to enter the water, but if I could time travel, I would love to go back in time to the heyday of the Roman Baths and enjoy the full spa experience!

The maze of bathhouses constructed above Bath's three natural hot springs come out of the ground at a steady 115°F. Situated alongside a temple dedicated to the healing goddess Sulis-Minerva, the baths now form one of the best-preserved ancient Roman spas in the world. The heart of the complex is the Great Bath, a lead-lined pool filled with steaming, geothermally heated water from the Sacred Spring. Though now open-air, the bath would originally have been covered by a barrel-vaulted roof.

More bathing pools and changing rooms are situated throughout, with excavated sections revealing the hollow spaces beneath the floor that formed the system that heated the bathing rooms. According to what we learned during our tour, a visitor to the baths might spend most of the day in this facility, enjoying many spa services. After luxuriating in the hot baths, they might have reinvigorated themselves with a dip in the circular cold-water pool, enjoyed a massage, had body hair tweezed off by spa attendants (no thank you on that “service”), and spend time with others catching up on gossip.