Curious Traveler

- This Welsh city is known for its castles, its coal, and its tiny little cakes.

It is time to get curious about Cardiff.

(cheerful music) Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

- [Narrator] For more than 45 years, Vacations by Rail has been helping travelers explore the world with a collection of rail journeys and luxury river cruises through awe-inspiring nature and cosmopolitan cities, from America's national parks to Europe and beyond.

Vacationsbyrail.com.

At GET, we believe travel is more than just getting away.

It's about experiencing a destination and iconic sites and delving deep into local culture.

Learn more at getours.com.

SmarTours offers group tours to over 50 must-see destinations around the world.

With SmarTours, we want you to enjoy the fun of travel while we do the planning for you.

The journey begins at smarTours.com.

(pleasant music) - Cardiff began as a small market town in the 1300s.

But, by the 1900s, it was one of the largest trading ports in the entire world.

And somewhere in between, a very important family built all this.

(speaking foreign language) Beautiful Cardiff is the capital of Wales and is in the historic county of Glamorgan.

It lies along the River Taff, which brings us to the origin of the name Cardiff, believed to be Car-Taff, meaning fort on the Taff.

And, as we are about to learn, Cardiff's waterways are what shaped this city.

So, here's what I'm curious about in Cardiff: Who lived here and here, and who decided that more was more?

What is a bara brith, and a Glamorgan sausage, and laverbread?

Seriously, what is that?

Where can you stand in the center of earth, air, water and fire?

Why is Cardiff known as the city of arcades?

When did a mighty British queen, a patron saint, and the Prince of Wales all move into this hall?

And how did one family build an entire city?

So much to be curious about in Cardiff.

(pleasant music) We begin our curious journey at the spot that built the city: Cardiff Bay.

This is Cardiff Bay, and just behind me is the exact spot where the original port was back in the 18th century.

What is so important about a port?

Well, this port helped to create the entire city of Cardiff.

Because, in the 18th century, just north of here, all the coal mines started popping up.

And, to get the coal from the mines down here to the port, and entire network of canals, and later even entire railways, were built, and then the coal was exported around the world.

In fact, by 1913, Cardiff was the largest coal-exporting port in the entire world.

There are many clues to Cardiff's history here as well.

For example, this is Bute Place, this is Bute Street, this is Bute Town, and these were the Bute docks, and this, the Pierhead Building, with its Big Ben of Wales on top, was once the headquarters for the, wait for it, Bute Dock Company.

So, what's a Bute?

Bute is an island in Scotland, and the noble family of Bute owned lots of coal-rich land here in Wales and essentially turned Cardiff from a small town into a major port and city.

The Marquess of Bute even built his own railway, the Cardiff Railway, to bring all his coal to this port.

And all that coal brought great prosperity to Cardiff, as we will soon see.

(pleasant music) So, from the port to the heart, we now go to the center of Cardiff and find a really, really big wall.

When you first arrive in Cardiff, the first thing you will notice is a really giant wall that kind of takes up the entire city.

And if you look closely, you will see sections of an original Roman wall.

And inside those walls is Cardiff Castle.

The original Roman fort is no longer here, but this fairy-tale-looking castle is in its spot.

It is called the Norman Keep, considered one of the finest in Wales.

And its shape tells its function.

It was a defensive castle built on a hill, with a moat around it; all the typical elements of a castle built for protection.

But, as useful and historic as it is, let's be honest, the decor leaves a little to be desired, am I right?

Cardiff Castle is made up of two main buildings.

One is the 12th century Norman Keep that I'm standing on right now, and the second is the building behind me.

And it looks Medieval, doesn't it?

Well, that's a little bit of a Victorian folly, because it was actually built in the 19th century for a very fancy family called the Butes, who were very important to Cardiff history.

Yes, those Butes were at it again here.

The Bute family owned the lands of Cardiff Castle for many generations.

But it was the 3rd Marquess who made it into what we see today.

(pleasant music) So, if it's color and fancy design you desire, may I present to you the Cardiff Castle Apartments.

There are many gorgeous rooms here inside the castle apartments.

This room was the winter smoking room, and it is where the men would go after dinner to drink their port and smoke their cigars.

But, it was definitely men only.

In fact, before they could even get into the doorway, this beast would scare the ladies away to make sure they weren't gossiping or listening at the door.

(beast oohing) And that's just the beginning.

The castle apartments look like a Medieval castle, right?

But, not so fast.

This was built in the 19th century.

So, it is a neo-Gothic Victorian fantasy with a lot, and I do mean a lot, of embellishments.

(pleasant music) In 1865, the 3rd Marquess of Bute continued his father's work on Cardiff Castle, along with William Burges, the architect and designer.

And, together, they transformed Cardiff Castle into a dream palace.

Clearly, they both believed that more is more.

So, obviously the big impact is talking about these battles, and we've got war and important people.

But we have these gentle little bunny rabbits.

- Yes.

- What are these little more gentle features we have here?

- You'll find a lot of this going on.

There's a big nature theme that goes on throughout the house anyway.

You know, nature was popular in the 19th century anyway.

Lord Bute, actually, was anti-hunting and anti-vivisection, which you might not realize.

William Burges had his own parrot called Polly, so you do see a lot of parrots around here as well.

His parrot used to sit on his shoulder, apparently.

- Really?

As he was drawing his plans and things probably.

- Presumably, yes, yes, I would imagine.

- To say that the design here is quirky is an understatement.

Seriously, what is that?

There are dozens of small rooms, each with a specific purpose, and winding staircases and little nooks and crannies throughout the castle.

No surface was left untouched.

One of the most wow-worthy rooms is the Arab Room, a Moorish design inspired by William Burges's own travels as well as the design trends of the time.

To create this soaring ceiling with its seemingly never-ending geometric patterns further and further receding into the heavens, two upper floors had to be completely removed.

But, what was added is even more curious.

That is not just gold paint, my friends, but gold leaf, all brushed on by hand, tiny piece by piece.

It is estimated that the Arab Room is valued at more than $10 million.

Our next room is equally wow-worthy, although maybe not as expensive: the summer smoking room.

Seriously, how much smoking did they do in the Victorian Era to need a winter and a summer smoking room?

This room is amazing.

It seems as if it has three levels or even kind of extends up into the sky.

Talk about the design idea and what we see as we look up.

- Well, the design idea here, really, the theme in this room is the universe, so up upon the ceiling you have the four elements personified, so you have earth, you have water, air and fire.

You have large gold leaf stars, and those are the constellations, and you have mirrors, then.

They are the individual stars.

And the idea is that, when the candles on the chandelier were lit, the mirrors then would twinkle like stars in the night sky.

You were up in the universe, up with the gods.

- It's beautiful.

It's beautiful.

(pleasant music) The Marquess and William Burges worked together for years, creating the beauty of Cardiff Castle Apartments.

And ever work of art needs a frame, right?

So, framing Cardiff Castle is the historic animal wall, with darling animals, including a pair of lions holding shields, a seal, a hyena, and a couple of giggling monkeys.

(pleasant music) And if you follow the length of the animal wall and take a right after the anteater and go under a little archway that leads to Bute Park, of course, you will come across a quintessentially British tradition: the perfect spot for afternoon tea.

(pleasant music) The Pettigrew Tearooms was originally the castle's west lodge, named for the head gardener, a Mr. Pettigrew.

By the way, how perfect is that name for a gardener?

These are our new friends, Niobe and Naomi, who have both worked at the Pettigrew Tearooms for years.

Alongside the tea, you will find your typical afternoon tea fare, like scones, clotted cream, and jam.

But here in Wales, you will also find a few more curious items for your tea that are not only tasty but tell the history of Wales.

- A bara brith.

- What is that?

- A bara brith.

- Bara brith?

- Brith.

- Okay, what does that mean?

- Literally translated, it means speckled bread.

- [Christine] Oh, good.

- It's a traditional Welsh fruit loaf.

So it is technically a cake.

- But we call it bread 'cause it sounds healthier.

- Exactly.

Exactly.

- It's the shape of bread, sort of.

(laughing) - Because, traditionally, it used to be made in a bread pan.

- Ah, okay.

- So it was an easy way for people who didn't have a lot of money to still make a cake.

- And there's also the laverbread scone, which we will learn more about later.

But here's a hint: there's neither lava nor bread in it.

And this, the Glamorgan sausage, named for Cardiff's county of Glamorgan, which isn't really a sausage.

This is my kind of sausage, 'cause I'm a vegetarian, so this would be a ...

Explain how this is a sausage.

(chuckles) A sausage of sorts.

- It's a Glamorgan sausage.

They date back centuries in Wales.

- The first mention of it was a book called Wild Wales.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, in like the 1850s the recipe was.

But then they reckoned that the actual recipe has been around since like the 12th century.

- And so, originally it was made because people couldn't afford meat, and so they made something in the shape of a sausage so they felt like they were having meat?

- A lot of people did.

- But there is one last little detail that makes this afternoon tea unique.

Look closely, and you will sea that none of the tea cups or saucers match, and that's intentional.

There's many stories about the wonderful families that have donated their china to you, and there's one in particular; you have a family that comes back once a year?

- Yeah, there is a ... Do you remember when the Fife brothers came in earlier in the year, and they had ... Their mom used to love coming in here, and so they donated all of her china, and then they come in once a year, and they come up, and they actually, they sat right here last time, and they sit for a couple of hours, just kind of spending some time together and using her china.

(pleasant music) - Now that we are revived from our afternoon tea, we head back along the animal wall to the main entrance of the castle, which leads us to some of Cardiff's oldest streets: historic High Street and St. Mary Street.

And just off those historic streets is a Cardiff curiosity not to be missed: its famous Victorian and Georgian arcades.

In fact, Cardiff is known as the arcade city and is said to have the highest concentration of arcades in all of Britain.

Why so many arcades?

Well, partly because of all that coal prosperity that the Bute family brought to Cardiff.

And with prosperity comes new shops.

But there wasn't enough space for all the new shops on those Medieval streets.

So, what to do?

Just make use of those alleys and lanes in between the buildings.

These otherwise dirty alleys were made clean and inviting with splendid glass ceilings, decorative moldings, and lighting.

And, most importantly, all the shops got front-row prime real estate, with large window displays to attract the strolling customers.

One of Cardiff's finest arcades is this one: Castle Arcade.

It began in 1887, and it was full of all kinds of specialty shops, like apothecaries, tailors, and even fortune tellers.

Today, it remains Cardiff's only arcade that is three stories high.

(pleasant music) The other arcades include the Royal Arcade, which dates back to the 1850s.

There's also High Street Arcade and the Morgan Arcade, home to one of the oldest record shops in Britain: Spillers Records, in the same spot since 1894.

And the biggest arcade of all isn't really an arcade, but it was built in the same style, with beautiful glass ceilings and touches of Victorian splendor.

Beautiful Cardiff Market dates back at least 100 years.

Now, it started out as simple, open-air stalls.

But then, later, this beautiful Victorian architecture was built over top of it.

And today, Cardiff Market is the perfect spot to taste or wear your Welsh history.

You can take your pick of all manner of Welsh treats, like beautiful Welsh cheeses or the traditional Clark's Pies at the Market Deli, in this same spot inside Cardiff Market since 1928.

Then, from traditional foods to traditional clothing, this master tailor makes everything from vintage waistcoats to those quintessentially British hats, the flat cap, also known as a newsboy or a baker boy cap, and here in Wales, it is called a dye cap.

- Hats, I love the hats!

- I think you should try a hat on.

- If I do, I'll never take it off, and that would be a problem, and then I'll have hat head.

And do not, and I mean do not, pass up an opportunity to sample a traditional Welsh cake, hot off the griddle or, as they call it here in Wales, hot of the baking stone.

What is the story and why are these so traditional to Wales?

- So, a country's cuisine is dependent on lots of things: geography, climate, but also the equipment.

And so, houses, people couldn't afford an oven, so we had an open fire.

So you'd cook your stews and your soups in a big cauldron or a saucepan.

And then we had the griddle, or the bake stone, which is used for breads, cakes, and biscuits.

So this is why the taste is so good, 'cause they're cooked really quickly on the griddle.

- [Christine] I love it.

And just a little dusting of sugar on the top, and that's all you need.

- Bit of sugar.

So, traditionally with the sultanas or mixed fruit.

- Yeah.

- And then you do have different flavors, but some people get really cross.

They say (gasps), "It's not a Welshcake "if it's got chocolate in it!"

- That's what I said.

This is only my second visit to Wales.

I said, "You don't mess with perfection."

And then there's the Ashton fishmongers, a fifth-generation seafood stall here at Cardiff Market since 1890.

But it won't be the catch of the day we're sampling but a local delicacy called laverbread.

Remember those delightful but mysteriously-named laverbread scones at Pettigrew Tearooms?

Well, believe it or not, they had some of this green stuff in it.

- So, basically, it's seaweed that's been gathered and boiled and boiled and boiled, and we turn it into a paste.

- Okay.

- Now, it doesn't look particularly attractive.

(laughing) You know, I don't think it's ever gonna win an award for presentation.

But it's extremely good for you.

- Okay.

- [Sian] And the miners used to eat it.

The children, when they worked the mines, used to eat it.

It's a very cheap source of vitamins and nutrients.

- And the traditional way to eat this unique delight is on a special oat cracker with cockles on top and a dash of vinegar.

And of course, laverbread has a curious Welsh history.

The word "laver" is simply a type of seaweed found in many places, including Japan and, of course, Wales.

The bread part was added on when peasant folk would knead the laver into a dough of sorts.

So, no, there is no lava or bread in laverbread, but ...

It's your daily bread, it's your daily seaweed.

- And this sticks in your teeth, so you have to be really careful.

- Oh, excellent.

- Okay.

So, not on a first date.

- Let's see how this goes.

To your health.

(upbeat music) It's really good!

But, oh yes, the seaweed in the teeth is a real problem.

My favorite part is, after you eat it, there's a reason why there's a mirror right here.

(bouncy music) All right, so, I have partaken in the Welsh traditions of Welsh cakes and laverbread.

What a combo.

So, off to explore more of Cardiff's lovely history.

And there's nothing lovelier that Cathays Park, with its soaring monuments and grassy spots under shaded trees and beautiful flowers.

And here's a shocker: this park was once owned by the Bute family as part of Cardiff Castle grounds.

The Butes gifted the land to the city of Cardiff under the condition that it be used for civic, cultural, and educational purposes.

And that's exactly what happened.

So, today, we have the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff University, and many government buildings on this spot, including the beautiful and palatial city hall.

(bells ringing) And the inside of city hall looks even more like a palace or a museum than just a boring municipal building.

In fact, city hall's art collection is quite extensive, spanning over 150 years, with fine paintings and stunning marble statues.

(pleasant music) And, wouldn't you know it, these statues are quite curious.

They aren't just simply here for decoration; they were carefully chosen to tell the history of Wales.

Just behind us here we have a very important statue to a true Welshman like yourself.

Who do we have behind?

- So here we've got Llewelyn, who was the last true Prince of Wales.

- [Christine] And here's where it gets even more interesting.

There was a contest held to decide who would be included here in the prestigious marble hall.

- It was the idea of Lord Rhondda.

He decided to donate X amount of money to Cardiff council to purchase the 10 statues of the greatest Welsh men of all times.

And of course, this is right in middle of the suffragette movement, so he quickly decided, okay, we're gonna have the 10 greatest Welsh people of all time.

- Oh, that's-- I never knew that part of the history.

Oh, that's good!

There ended up being 11 statues, so that the patron saint of Wales, Saint David, could be in the center, with five statues on either side of him.

So, who was the one and only woman chose?

Boadicea, also pronounce Boadicea, the warrior queen of an ancient Celtic tribe who led an uprising against the Romans.

Nice choice, everyone.

(pleasant music) But it was a different woman, not a queen but a beloved princess, who made Welsh history in another room here: the council chamber.

The chamber is in a circle shape because it lies directly beneath city hall's grand dome.

And one of its best features are its stained glass windows.

But the best story about the council chamber is tipped off by something much smaller, the small number one on this seat, next to the Lord Mayor's chair.

Who sat there?

- In 1981, Princess Diana came with Prince Charles to Cardiff City Hall.

It was a cold, wet October evening.

She pulled up in a car outside.

She had a fanfare into the building.

Then she came up the stairs then, just on our right hand side, came into the council chamber here, went up to chair number one, and she made her first ever public speech.

She did it in English first, and then she did it in Welsh.

She was then given the freedom of the city before going into the main assembly room them to meet all the local schoolchildren and in for a glass of wine or two.

- That's wonderful.

I'm so impressed by that.

I'm sure everyone here was impressed by that.

How much Welsh did she have to learn?

How long was the speech?

- The speech was only about 30 seconds, but it was really worth it.

It's really worth having a look at.

- And this moment was so historic, because not only was it the very first time Princess Diana spoke Welsh in public; it was also the very first time she spoke in public as the Princess of Wales, not to mention the fact that Welsh is a very, very tricky language for anyone, princess or not.

- I remember as a child, my mother, it was the same day when she came to Cardiff, my mother took me out to the local leisure center, 'cause she was also visiting there for the day.

I remember as a 10-year-old child standing out on the road with my sister and my mother, all waving at her as well.

- Ah, that's exciting!

That's wonderful.

- I know.

(pleasant music) - For our final curious Cardiff stop, we travel a bit outside the city, up into the ancient beach woods of Fforest Fawr, to get a great view of Cardiff below.

Where are we?

Well, once again, we go back to the Bute family, who of course had Cardiff Castle, in the heart of the city.

But, of course, just one castle wasn't enough.

So, the Bute family built this, Castell Coch, or the Red Castle, named after the red stones they used to build it.

But you could also argue that the red symbolizes love, because this was their private castle.

The Bute's Castell Coch was built on the remains of a 13th-century castle.

And if the splendid, over-the-top interiors look a bit familiar, that's because our pal William Burges, who designed Cardiff Castle, designed this castle too.

You know, in his spare time.

(curious music) And, just as with Cardiff Castle, the beauty here is in the many, many details.

A star-studded banqueting hall with stories to tell.

And lots of little butterflies seeming to fly about the castle, including a butterfly-winged fairy or a goddess holding a shield in the shape of a heart.

Scary lions interspersed with tiny little salamanders peeking through natural details over massive fireplaces.

Even the bedroom seems quite curious at first, with a bed in the middle of the room.

Well, when you look up and see the dome above, you can see what a lovely view of this painted heaven of stars and nature awaited the Bute's at night.

And they deserved a nice rest.

They did build Cardiff, after all.

(pleasant music) So, from a small town to an industrial world trading power where everything was named Bute to a Norman castle built on top of a Roman fort next to a Victorian dreamland decorated in goddesses, kings, and even cute little critters to a palace of sorts dedicated to the greatest men and women of Wales, with a special chamber, where an important princess greeted all in Welsh to a cozy cottage to wile the day away, complete with wonky tea sets and curious Welsh treats which can also be found inside an historic arcade of sorts, a market full of those Welsh cakes, Welsh caps, and a treat so unusual, you'd have to be Welsh to know it, and, finally, to yet another castle, a special hideaway for the family who deserved it after making this port city prosper in unimaginable ways, Cardiff has so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey.

And hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when, and how's of curious Cardiff.

As the Welsh say, (speaking in foreign language) (pleasant music) Curious Traveler is made possible by the following.

- [Narrator] For more than 45 years, Vacations by Rail has been helping travelers explore the world with a collection of rail journeys and luxury river cruises through awe-inspiring nature and cosmopolitan cities, from America's national parks to Europe and beyond.

Vacationsbyrail.com.

At GET, we believe travel is more than just getting away.

It's about experiencing a destination and iconic sites and delving deep into local culture.

Learn more at getours.com.

SmarTours offers group tours to over 50 must-see destinations around the world.

With SmarTours, we want you to enjoy the fun of travel while we do the planning for you.

The journey begins at smarTours.com.

- [Christine] Still curious?

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