Well the first treat is sitting in the first class carriage, complete with reclining seats and complimentary coffee! Not sure it was worth Chris having his car vandalised for, but a kindly gesture from Great Western Railway nonetheless.  



We arrived in Cardiff a couple of hours later, left our luggage at the hotel and set off towards our very own part of town! In the 16C The Hayes was a piece of open ground within the town walls, and today it is a bustling shopping centre, except for the leafy centre where we found the Hayes Island Snack Bar. They have been serving up fabulous bacon sandwiches since 1948 and Chris was pleased to spot a veggie burger on the menu.





Replete, we set off for a walk and were soon reminded that Cardiff is the home of Rugby and we had chosen a few days to visit between World Cup matches. There were banners in the street and as we reached the castle saw rugby mania had breached the wall, nice try!  


 
The castle is quite eye catching, with the huge clock tower, and surrounding wall, part of which is decorated with sculptures of animals, not unreasonably called Animal Wall.  



Some like the lynx and lioness date from the 1870's and others are later but get a mention, the raccoons because they are a pair and this is our Canoodle in Cardiff, and the anteater because I thought it looked cute!




 
We entered Bute Park, some 130 acres which was once the gardens for the castle, but now a public park and dodged the squirrels as we walked along the side of the River Taff to Llandaff Cathedral.

 



Our first impression of the Cathedral was how light and airy it was, with a huge modern statue of Christ taking centre stage. The cathedral was damaged in the war, hence the addition of a central reinforced concrete arch above which an aluminium statue of Christ in Majesty by Sir Jacob Epstein stands.  

 

Other treasures include the Triptych of the Seed of David by Dante Gabriel Rosetti which was made for the high altar but is now in a side chapel, and a series of porcelain panels showing the Six Days of Creation by Edward Burne-Jones.

 



Returning along the river we stopped at tea rooms for refreshments and a slice of Welsh fruit loaf called Barmbrack. We checked in and the bears checked out the room at the Ibis ... perfectly adequate and a snip at £50 a night including breakfast!

   



Every dining taste is met here in Cardiff and we felt unable to pass by a chance to eat just down the road at Wacaca ... hopefully with tastes to remind us of our trip to the Yucatan ... and a lot closer than going to the Southbank. We had a lovely time! The restaurant was decorated with colourful banners for the Day of the Dead at the end of October and we were shown to a table with a good view of the restaurant for us both. After margaritas and guacamole, we had three rounds of small dishes including tacos, tostadas, quesadillas and taquitos, all washed down with coronas!