EXPLORING
WALES
CARDIFF•
SWANSEA• NORTH WALES
by Rich Rubin
Wales is a fascinating land of contrasts
that offers a wide variety of wonderful experiences. Visitors
here can enjoy everything from the urban pleasures of
bustling Cardiff, to wide open beaches and stunning mountain
scenery. It’s also as gay-friendly a destination
as you could hope to find, both in the metropolitan areas
and, perhaps more surprisingly, in the countryside.
CARDIFF
There are three things you won’t have
any trouble finding in this capital city of 300,000:
shops, cafés, and bars. Cardiff residents do
love to have a good time. It’s simultaneously charmingly
old and sleekly contemporary, active and laidback, offering
plenty to do but not so many “musts” that
you have to keep a checklist. With an active gay nightlife
you’ll certainly be busy till the wee hours, so
it’s probably just as well there aren’t a
million museums.
I begin my explorations in the heart
of town, in the arcades that are its most prominent
feature. Once Cardiff’s main shopping streets,
these covered walkways are like stepping back in time,
with high, angled, translucent ceilings, and long passageways
lined with shops on two stories. In Castle Arcade I
find shops offering everything: buttons, cheese, designer
clothing, and violins. In High Street Arcade storefronts
hold boots, tattoos, jewelry, and harps. In Duke Street
Arcade I discover Things Welsh with its local handicrafts
from jewelry and Celtic prints to one of Wales’
most lovable souvenirs, the hand-carved wooden love
spoon.
Any city as happening as Cardiff will
have its share of coffeehouses. My absolute fave is
Coffee #1, where the entrance wall bears the words “Grounds
for Thought,” and inside lie two floors of java
joy, with an upstairs deck for nice weather. From here,
I head straight to Church Lane, a wonderful little street
full of eateries where I take a seat in the cozy little
Brazil Coffee Co. Another espresso down, it’s on
to Atlantic Coffee, in the High Street Arcade where
I gulp my espresso at an arcade-side table. In lovely
little Café Europa, right across from Cardiff
Castle, the sign reads “Chat Chill Relax.”
Here you’ll encounter a great mix of locals and
visitors any time of day.
That afternoon I take a walk with the
locals through Bute Park, promenading beneath overhanging
trees along the River Taff. I stop to explore Cardiff
Castle with room after room of amazing furnishings,
mirrored ceilings, murals depicting fairy tales, and
a keep with a spectacular view over the city. Not a
fan of castle tours in general, I’m surprised by
how thoroughly I enjoy my visit.
So, too, at the National Museum, a fascinating
trip through millions of years of history and pre-history,
with an impressive painting collection as well. The
Wales we know today bears little resemblance to the
land of volcanoes and earthquakes this once was; a land
of tropical swamps with cockroaches a foot long; a land
where rhinos, hippos, and elephants wandered across
the tundra. A lot can happen in 400 million years or
so!
From the past to the future, I head
to Cardiff Bay. The first thing I see as I approach
the bay is the Wales Millennium Centre. It’s an
incredible venue, traditionally Welsh but also starkly
contemporary, with long horizontal rows of charcoal,
purple, and black stone flanking a portico that looks
like a ship’s prow. You can tour the building twice
a day. Better yet, see shows ranging from the Welsh
National Opera to The Vagina Monologues.
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Formerly called Tiger Bay, this
area (which most famously produced Shirley Bassey), has
come alive. Now there’s a stunning spa resort, St.
David’s, whose stylish modern digs boast balconies,
bay vistas, and whose restaurant, Tides Grill, offers
upscale dining-with-a-view. There’s a chic little
boutique hotel, Joylon’s, with six beautifully furnished
rooms and a nice downstairs bar/café. There’s
also Craft in the Bay, featuring top-notch work of artists
in all media. Are there ever restaurants! The Mermaid
Quay waterfront is dominated by two stories of eateries
representing a United Nations of bayview dining. Among
the dozens of options try Café Naz, a sleek second-story
spot, for modern Bangladeshi food. My favorite place here
is Mimosa Kitchen and Bar, whose lean, clean look is matched
by creative contemporary cuisine, from oven-dried tomato
tarts to ricotta-stuffed cannelloni with leeks and lemon
thyme.
In addition to Cardiff’s bayside
restaurants, there are many great options found throughout
the city. I have a wonderful lunch at Capsule, a trendy
little spot that features delicious pasta and pizza
right on Charles Street near the gay clubs.
The hip (and oddly-named) bar Is It?
might be a favored nightspot, but the food, from chicken
tikka masala to Welsh lamb tagine, is also wonderful.
Y Mochyn Du, the quintessential Welsh pub on the edge
of Bute Park, invites you to indulge in such traditional
favorites as cawl (lamb/vegetable soup), laverbread
(a seaweed concoction), and “faggots and mushy
peas.” These standards get a contemporary spin
at the “nouvelle Welsh” Armless Dragon, the
nicest restaurant in town. Here laverbread becomes a
neat little ball with ginger-pickled vegetables, Welsh
rarebit tops a leek tartlet, and cawl is done with seafood
and saffron potatoes. It’s chic, modern, and oh-so-Welsh.
Just like the restaurants, not all the
good hotels are on the bay either. I love the Park Plaza,
right at the heart of town and a real beauty, with huge,
sleekly contemporary but amazingly comfortable rooms
and Cardiff’s most stunning lobby. Want to stay
gay? Check into the Courtfield Hotel, a small and friendly
gay-owned spot right off Bute Park. It’s run by
Norman and Keith, who recently celebrated their official
civil union. “So we are wed,” laughs Norman,
“it only took us twenty years to get round to it!”
They’ll give you any Cardiff information you need,
and a map to the gay clubs. “Cardiff gay life,”
smiles Norman, “is easy.”
Continued
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