A day and night out in Cardiff – Wales

When you start a holiday, you’re always eager to see as many sights as you can, but if you get too excited, you end up seeing them all, and if you’re holidaying over the course of a week or fortnight, you find yourself bored with a few days still to go. Fortunately, when visiting Cardiff, you won’t have that problem.

Many people don’t have the time to go on a week-long break, but day and night breaks can be just as relaxing. You can take in plenty of sights, with time left to have a meal at one of the Welsh capital’s outstanding restaurants before retreating to one of those comfortable, welcoming Cardiff hotels for a great night’s sleep.

As you would expect from a capital city, Cardiff is jam packed with attractions. It has numerous parks, sporting and cultural venues, historical sites, top-class shops and eateries, all of which make the city a fantastic place to spend a weekend in.

The Millenium Stadium, the home of the Welsh national rugby union team, is one of Europe’s largest purpose-built sporting venues. As well as hosting top-class sporting events, the stadium also hosts concerts for rock and pop groups, plus the amazing Welsh National Opera.

Cardiff plays host to Wales’ National Museum and Art Gallery, which puts on various exhibitions with relevance to both the local area and the wider world. Admission is free, so if you’re holidaying with children, this is an ideal place for the whole family to visit.

Parks are plentiful in Cardiff, and if you’re looking for a peaceful weekend, then a stroll through Bute Park on the edge of the city centre, or Roath Park, which lies within its leafy suburbs could be the answer. Cardiff has more parkland per capita than any other major city in the UK, so you’re spoilt for choice.

Other attractions of note include St. David’s Hall, which is one of the country’s best concert halls, the magnificent Cardiff Castle and the inspiring St. David’s Cathedral. Shopping in Cardiff is a joy, particularly around precincts such as St. David’s, Royal Arcade and the Capitol Centre.

Once you’ve taken in all the sights, then why not cap off your day by having a meal at one of the many top-class restaurants in the breathtakingly modern Cardiff Bay area. Eateries such as Signor Valentino’s, Bosphorus Turkish Restaurant and Miller and Carter Restaurant and Bar offer flavours from South Wales and beyond, and are guaranteed to re-energise you after taking in all the sights of this wonderful, underrated city.

When you’ve finished your meal, then you’re able to retreat to a quality hotel such as the Ibis Hotel Cardiff Gate and sleep soundly in a freshly-made bed knowing that you’ve had the best day break imaginable, and if there’s anywhere you didn’t see, you can always come back for another trip.

Photo Credits: All photos by cardiffandco

More Things to see in Wales

Walking In Wales – 10 Easy And Inspirational Day Walks
Camping in sunshine and showers – on the Gower in Wales
A snowy break at Laswern Fawr holiday in the Brecon Beacons, Wales – video

My thanks for this sponsored post to Eurobookings.com, the European booking specialist

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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Chocolate with sea salt – a taste of West Sweden at Flickorna Kanold in Gothenburg

On a chilly winter’s day in Gothenburg you might well need a hot chocolate to warm you through and you’ll find the perfect spot in Café Kanold. I might not go so far as to call myself a chocoholic but let’s just say that when there’s a box of chocolates in the house, my husband will hide it to help me resist the temptation of demolishing it in one go. So during our weekend in Gothenburg just before Christmas I was only too happy to find a chocolate excuse to escape the blustery showers and strong winds.

As we wandered around the network of pedestrianised shopping streets, not too far from Hotel Elite Plaza where we were staying,we found ourself at the canal or moat that encircles the central area. Just in front of it on the corner is Café Kanold, all old fashioned elegance, washed out Swedish blue paintwork and sparkling chandeliers. We were just about ready for a mid morning break and I remembered that Cafe Kanold was one of the Gothenburg recommendations from my Hospitality club friend and Gothenburg local, Linnea.

Cafe Kanold in Gothenburg, Sweden

Kanold Chocolate cafe in Gothenburg, Sweden

Safely inside and out of the wind and rain, we sat on the cushioned banquette with pretty floral cushions and settled ourselves in for a warming hot chocolate – served with chili flakes on top for an extra kick, just as they do in Mexico. That counter of handmade chocolate truffles at the entrance was calling me and I couldn’t resist trying a few different flavours including the Kanold speciality, a soft chocolate truffle centre topped with sea salt, which has now become known as the “Gothenburg Truffle”.

Sustained with our chili hot chocolate we carried on round the corner  where we found the main Kanold chocolate shop on Södra Larmgatan at the end of Viktoriapassagen - a cross between an old fashioned candy store and a boutique chocolatier. The window could have been from a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale with marzipan pigs all ready for Christmas and miniature paper cases with the toffee or knack that they serve at Christmas in Sweden.

Apparently the Kanold family came to Gothenburg from Germany in the 1890s and the brothers Anton and Fred Kanold started the chocolate business but over the years the company was sold off until none of the original family were involved. Then in 1998 Jeanna Kanold, whose husband is from the fourth generation of the Kanold family took over the chocolate shop on the corner of Viktoriapassagen and the brothers Kanold become Flickorna Kanold or “The girls” Kanold. I love the idea of “the girls” taking over the family business and injecting new love and inspiration into a world of chocolate. Ten years later and the chocolate production moved to the nearby glass roofed Salluhallen food market where you can watch the chocolates being produced in their workshop and last year the elegant Café Kanold was opened.

In the window of the chocolate shop I also noticed Jeanna Kanold’s face on the cover of a glossy cook-book that she’d recently published  called Med kärlek till Choklad or With love for Chocolate in which she shares her favourite chocolate and baking recipes from the Kanold family archives as well as the company history and traditions. Sadly it’s only sold in Swedish at the moment, or I would have been adding it to my Christmas list. The shop is a place that you really could be like a kid in a candy store with striped candy canes and twists, marzipan pigs and angels (I adore marzipan) chocolate discs studded with nuts and dried fruit and of course those delicious chocolate truffles.

Sadly the Saluhallen market hall was closed when we passed but at the end of our weekend, on our way to catch the bus to the airport I popped into the shop again to buy a box of those salty Gothenburg truffles to take back home. I did a double take as I realised that Jeanna Kanold herself was serving in the shop, dressed in her traditional white frilled pinny and so I introduced myself and asked if I could take her photo which she graciously agreed.

I asked how she had come up with inspiration for the now famous ‘Gothenburg truffle’ with sea salt and she told me that she had been trying to come up with a chocolate idea that would epitomise the spirit of Gothenburg to take to a competition in Stockholm. As Gothenburg is so famous for its seafood, she had tried various fishy combinations, but after a while the lobster and shrimp truffles weren’t tasting so good. Then she had the inspiration of using sea salt to represent the ocean that gives a livelihood to much of the coast of West Sweden as well as the wonderful seafood that is a speciality of Gothenburg. Now the sea salt with chocolate has caught on in Gothenburg and I noticed at our ‘death by chocolate’ desert at the Michelin star restaurant, Basement also had a sprinkling of sea salt on the top. Jeanna’s special recommendation was that the sea salt truffles are wonderful served with champagne, which I wouldn’t need any persuading to try.

So there you have my Kanold favourites – hot chocolate with chili flakes to warm you and chocolate truffles with sea salt for the authentic taste of West Sweden. On a windy winter’s day in Gothenburg I can’t think of anything nicer.

Need to know about Flickorna Kanold

Website: Flickorna Kanold

The three Kanold premises are situated near the canal in the Inom Vallgraven neighbourhood. Café Kanold is at Grönsakstorget 1 and the Kanold chocolate shop is nearby at Södra Larmgatan 14 (beside Viktoriapassagen) while the workshop is in the Stora Saluhallen food-market at Kungstorget.

More things to enjoy in Gothenburg

Video of the Christmas film or Julfilm in Gothenburg
Staying in luxury with Mother Svea at Hotel Elite Plaza in Gothenburg
Gourmet Gotheburg – Our Michelin star meal at Basement in Gothenburg – video

Visitor Information for Gothenburg or Göteborg

• The local tourism site Göteborg.com is full of information on the best things to see and do
• For information on West Sweden visit the West Sweden Tourism site or follow them on Twitter @WestSwedenTB or on their Facebook page and you will find their blog at ExploreWestSweden.com
• Another useful site for all things Gothenburg is I Love Göteborg
• If you plan to do a lot of sightseeing it’s worth getting the Gothenburg City Card which will allow you entrance to all the major attractions as well as public transport. Look out for the deals that some hotels offer that include a Gothenburg Card with the hotel booking.
• We stayed at the elegant 5 star hotel, Elite Plaza Hotel which is a short walk from the Kanold shops in the Inom Vallgraven district and walking distance from most things.
• We took flights to Gothenburg from London Heathrow with Scandinavian Airlines who have 2 flights a day to Gothenburg’s Landvetter airport, a 30 minute taxi or bus ride from the city.
• If you’d like to use a guidebook during your visit to Gothenburg I’d recommend the conveniently sized Thomas Cook Gothenburg Pocket Guide which we used.

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Sweden – Gothenburg photoset

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

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Exploring the Christmas markets of Gothenburg

As winter sets in over Northern Europe, there’s something atmospheric about a Christmas market and in Gothenburg on the West coast of Sweden, you’ll find Christmas markets that make you feel cosy and full of seasonal spirit. On our winter weekend break in Gothenburg we set out to explore some of the many markets around the city, in between plenty of eating and drinking of course.

 Kronhuset Christmas Market

On our way to visit the Maritiman Maritime Centre on the harbour (which we were disappointed to find was closed in winter), we passed by what I thought looked like an Almshouse that one might find in Bristol with old buildings set around four sides of a courtyard. The Kronhuset is the oldest building in Gothenburg, built in the 1650s as an artillery store and it looks a bit incongruous surrounded by more modern buildings, with a red brick façade and unusual green copper window shutters.

Inside the Kronhuset, we found a Christmas craft market was in full swing with the hall packed with small stalls selling anything from pottery to Christmas decorations as well as several stalls raising money for charity – there was definitely a touch of the Women’s Institute in the atmosphere.

Outside there were a few more stalls, mainly selling cute fir tree decorations in the shape of dogs and other animals. I noticed that pine branches (as if you had cut up a Christmas tree) are widely used to decorate window surrounds and are spread on the ground at the foot of building walls, sometimes with fairy lights over the top. I’m not sure whether the purpose is purely decorative or if it helps to stop snow and ice damaging the buildings.

Christmas wreaths at Kronhuset in Gothenburg, Sweden

Christmas market at Kronhuset in Gothenburg

We looked around the interesting gift shops that were in the old buildings around the courtyard and ended with a coffee  in the extremely cosy Café Kronhuset, where there was a fire burning on what looked like an original fireplace of a forge with a metal anvil. Many people were tucking into appetising salads and open sandwiches but we’d had the full hotel breakfast so we saved ourselves for later.

Spreading pine branches on the ground in Gothenburg

Christmas market at Kronhuset in Gothenburg

Röhsska Design museum

I was on the lookout for pretty and unusual Christmas gifts and so we stopped by at the Röhsska Design museum in the Vasastan neighbourhood, where there was the Julform craft market with stalls set up in a side room off the Museum lobby. On sale were gifts that looked as if they were largely the work of design students and this was just the place to buy interesting jewellery or even the odd bit of furniture although nothing was especially cheap.

Liseberg Christmas Market

If the Christmas markets at Kronhuset and Röhsska Museum were small and intimate, the Christmas market at Liseburg was quite the other end of the scale. Liseberg is the largest amusement park in Sweden, with restaurants, food stands, and rides for all ages from carousels to a traditional timber roller coaster and at Christmas the park is transformed with 5 million lights.

We’ll have to trust them on that as I can’t say I counted every one, but as we came through the entrance I could believe it, as it seemed that every twig, on every branch, on every tree had lights twisted around it. I feel sorry for the people who have to put them up and then take them all down again after Christmas.

We surged through the gates and not really being sure where to go took the two sets of escalators up to an area where there were stalls of designer gifts from Scandinavian brands. On coming down the escalators again, we caught the end of the ice show as skaters performed to Christmas music and even some cute young skaters spun around impressively.

Once we’d done the circuit it was starting to rain quite heavily and the end of a long day we were starting to flag, with little enthusiasm for a damp and scary roller coaster ride. We retreated from the crowds to the nearest place we could find for a cup of tea and found ourself in fast food hall filled with families eating Scandinavian versions of burger & chips. Although the lights were magical, the Saturday night crowds were not and we decided to head back to the calm of Hotel Elite Plaza.

5 million lights at Liseberg, Gothenburg

Liseburg in Gothenburg, Sweden

Haga Christmas Market

On Sunday morning we found our perfect Christmas market that was being held just at the weekend in the old fashioned neighbourhood of Haga. The pedestrian streets of Haga are full of interesting shops and cafes and to this were added more stalls, some an offshoot of the shops, selling mainly foods such as interesting sausages, breads, cakes and a few gifts.

The scene was full of Christmas atmosphere as a choir of students stood on the street corner singing us a Gud Jul looking hopefully for a few silver coins thrown into the tin in front of them. As their impromptu concert came to an end we heard band music and followed it down the street until we found the source; a junior marching band with teenagers dressed in bright blue uniforms, and cheer leaders at the front twirling their pom poms, led by a majorette with her cane. Here was the Christmas music and atmosphere that I’d been hoping to find.

We followed the band as they marched down the main street of Haga Nygata, and then dived into Cafe Kringlan, one of those cosy traditional cafes where the cinnamon and saffron buns were piled high and you can have your fika break over a steaming mug of coffee or hot chocolate.

If you’re visiting Gothenburg in December, you can take your pick of Christmas markets from the full-on bright lights of Liseberg to the Swedish designer gifts at Röhsska Museum, to the traditional charms of Kronhuset and Haga. There are even more Christmas markets around Gothenburg and you will find opening times on the Göteborg.com website.

Visitor Information for Gothenburg or Göteborg

- The local tourism site Göteborg.com is full of information on the best things to see and do
- For information on West Sweden visit the West Sweden Tourism site or follow them on Twitter @WestSwedenTB and you will find their blog at ExploreWestSweden.com
- Another useful site for all things Gothenburg is I Love Göteborg
- During our long weekend in Gothenburg, we stayed at the lovely 5 star hotel, Elite Plaza Hotel which is right in the centre of town.
- For flights to Gothenburg from London Heathrow, we flew with Scandinavian airlines, who have 2 flights a day to Gothenburg from London.

Thanks to the West Sweden Tourism Board for sponsoring our long weekend in Gothenburg

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Sweden – Gothenburg photoset

 

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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