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

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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Brighton – a very British Seaside Town

Brighton has long been the haunt of Londoners who are in need of respite from the Big Smoke. Graham Greene wrote about it in his famous novel Brighton Rock– an interesting insight into what it was like in a time when people went down in their Sunday best clothes and strolled along the promenade in a quintessentially English way.

It has always had an eccentric air about it. Just a look at the Brighton Pavilion attests to this. The Pavilion was built for Prince Regent between 1787 and 1823 so that he could entertain his mistress there. It was designed in a skewed Indian architectural style, the British having liked the architecture in India and attempted to copy it themselves. The result is almost comic, particularly in a classic British seaside resort.

For sometime Brighton has been known as Britain’s gay capital too. There’s a good gay bar scene. Near to the station, behind (perhaps appropriately) a PVC cover, there’s Banksy’s portrait of two male policemen kissing, quite a nice nod to the community.

Brighton has what you want from a British seaside resort mixed with good pubs, restaurants and shopping. Along the seafront, there are a few fish and chip places including one that serves crab soup, which you will smell long before you see it.  However, the places along the seafront are more expensive than great well-known locations such as Bardsley’s on Baker Street.

The old Brighton pier – West Pier – stands, a charcoal husk just out to sea. It was opened in 1866. Maintenance costs led to degradation, which in turn resulted in the pier being cut off from the shore for safety. Storms after that led to parts of it falling into the sea and a couple of fires after that left it as what you see it today.

There are a couple of decorative iron pieces from the old pier in the Brighton Fishing Museum on the seafront. The pier visitors go to today is to the left of the old one. It has amusement arcades with slot machines and toy grabbing games, a helter skelter, ghost train and a couple of other rides as well as a tarot reader who works from a gypsy caravan on the pier.

The city of Brighton and Hove is known for its cultural and arts scene and there are some cute galleries on the seafront as well as inland. There are also a few market stalls dotted about when the weather suits.

There is (contrary to popular belief) a great train service between London and Brighton. So while cheap car hire would be one way to get there if coming from London, you don’t really need it unless you’re sticking around for a while. Buses here are expensive enough that you might as well.

If travelling in from another part of the UK, trains are still recommended – as long as you book far enough in advance. The UK has the cheapest advance train fares in Europe but the last minute fares are among the most expensive.

This post was brought to you by CarHireMarket.com  and written by Liz Vega who writes mostly about Britain and loves the seaside.

More things to do around England

Ships and Shopping at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
A walk around the harbourside in Bristol – Video
Hunting the Ash-black slug on Dartmoor – in Devon

Photo Credits: Brighton Pavilion by Fenners1984, Banksy’s kissing policemen by simonbooth, Seaside resort food by drchrispinnock,  and Brighton pier by EEPaul.

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

Where to find truly great tapas in Barcelona

Few things are as synonymous with Spanish culture as tapas, and few things have origins as steeped in mythology. There is the story of the ailing King Alfonso X, known as El Sabio or The Wise, who was nursed back to health on a diet of wine and tiny morsels. Delighted with the remedy, he ordered that everyone in Castilla should embrace this curative new diet. Nonsense!, others claim, the wise king decreed that taverns serve a snack with each glass of wine to prevent drunken brawls; tapas began as a civic, peace-keeping measure!

Tapas traditions

None of this, however, explains the origin of the name. Tapa means lid and many claim it derives from the old practice of placing a slice of ham on the glass to keep pesky flies from falling into the wine. One story involves a visit by King Alfonso XIII to Andalucia, although in this case the cause for concern wasn’t the flies, but the flying sand. Afraid the strong wind would sweep the beach into the royal glass, the innkeeper covered it with a slice of ham. The king thought this ingenious, ate the ham, drank the wine and ordered another round, but this time with a different tapa (lid)!

The fact that these legends play out in Castilla or Andalucia is no coincidence. Both are famous for their tapas tradition: el tapeo or strolling with friends, stopping at different places for a drink and sampling the house specialty is very popular.

Traditionally, tapas were simple (olives, cheese, ham) and on the house when you ordered a drink, but their rise in popularity resulted in a proliferation of tapas styles. Whereas in Castilla, typical tapas include callos (tripe), potato omelette or croquettes, Andalusian tapas are far more seafood oriented: cuttlefish, pescaito frito (tiny fried fish), prawns, shrimp omelette. The Basques have a tradition of their own: here tapas are called pintxos and consist of a small slice of bread with different toppings, usually held together by a toothpick. Going from bar to bar sampling pintxos is one of the most social and entertaining ways of eating in San Sebastian.

Tapas recommendations in Barcelona

Although tapas are not a typically Catalan tradition, the practice has become popular over time and nowadays you’ll find all sorts of tapas restaurants in Barcelona, from authentic bars where locals pop in for a drink and a tapa to creative restaurants that have transformed tapas into the centrepiece of their dining experience. Finding tapas in Barcelona is easy. Finding good tapas in a place that doesn’t feel like a tourist trap is trickier. I have my three stalwarts – deeply local places where the food is good and the atmosphere unique: El Vaso de Oro, Quimet Quimet, and Bar Ramón.

El Vaso de Ora – beer and hearty tapas

El Vaso de Oro is in Barceloneta, the city’s old fishing quarter, and it takes its seafaring association very seriously. From the waiters’ white nautical uniforms with gold trim to the wooden lamps shaped like ships, El Vaso de Oro embraces the maritime identity of the neighbourhood. Even the layout – the narrow wooden bar where you have to squeeze past other patrons – recalls the confined cabins of a boat. In fact, there’s only one thing un-sea-related: the food. Sure, the tapas include the odd seafood item, but mostly it’s robust, hearty, inland fare: chorizo, morcilla and other sausages, cured ham, foie, sirloin steak with foie (the house specialty), Manchego cheese, salted almonds, pimientos del padrón (slightly spicy green peppers and pretty much the only vegetable on the menu).

The crowd matches the food. Robust, hearty, (mostly) men over 50 with bushy beards, a beer-drinking crowd of local regulars that come for good, no-nonsense food. The bar serves wine, but one look at the shelves of old, ceramic beer mugs and the motto el manantial de la cerveza or the beer spring on the coasters and you know what the beverage of choice is around here. Word has spread and you’ll see a smattering of younger patrons, a few foreigners too, who know that when it comes to delicious meat-and-potatoes-style tapas, El Vaso de Oro in Barcelona is one of the best bets around.

El Vaso de Oro, Carrer Balboa, 6 – 08003 Barcelona; 93 319 3098

Quimet Quimet – vermouth and local delicacies

Just like El Vaso de Oro, Quimet Quimet is a true tapas bar, where you stand, or perch on a stool, have a drink, eat a tapa and move on to the next place. Located in the Poble Sec in Barcelona, Quimet Quimet is even smaller and most evenings, patrons literally spill out onto the street. Sometimes it gets so crowded, you’re rubbing shoulders with strangers. But it’s absolutely worth it.

At Quimet Quimet, tapas meet one of Catalunya’s finest traditions: fer el vermut literally: “do the vermouth”. Catalunya is known for its excellent vemouths, and Quimet Quimet has a delicious house variety – dark, herbal, spicy and just sweet enough. My favourite, however, is from the village of Falset in the Priorat. A fresh, light vermouth the colour of a sunset. The tradition of the vermut isn’t just about the beverage though. Traditionally, it was a lunchtime aperitif. The vermouth was prepared with a splash of soda or sifó and a slice of orange or an olive, served with olives, crisps, anchovies, salted almonds, clams or cockles.

Quimet Quimet serves all of these local delicacies…and so much more. The montaditos (another variation on small slices of bread topped with different ingredients) are exquisite – salmon, yogurt and honey; prawns and roasted red pepper; smoked sardine and sun-dried tomato, etc. – as are the cheese and cured meat assortments. Quimet Quimet is also a paradise for wine lovers and a great place to discover Catalunya’s wine regions, not just the commercially well-known El Penedés, but others like the Priorat, Montsant, Terra Alta or Empordá-Costa Brava. Although more obscure, these official appellations of origin grow interesting, autoctonous varieties and produce some of the Catalunya’s finest wines.

Quimet Quimet, Carrer del Poeta Cabanyes, 25 – 08004 Barcelona; 93 442 3142

Bar Ramón – high energy and gourmet tapas

As much as I love the high-spirited energy of a bustling tapas bar, sometimes the occasion calls for a different dining experience. Sitting down to a meal, however, doesn’t mean renouncing tapas. Bar Ramón in Sant Antoni is without a doubt one of Barcelona’s most original local spots. The restaurant is a curious mix of new and old, local and international, creative and traditional. In a way, it expresses the personalities of its owners, a brother and sister team.

At first glance, Bar Ramón looks like most good, local bars: unfussy furniture, a long bar, a glass display of cold tapas. Inviting, cosy, not flashy. But then you hear the music – good classic rock and blues – and you notice the guitars on the walls and the photos of music legends. The colours, a little warmer and more vibrant than in most local bars and the aging, rock’n'roll regulars hanging out at the bar. Bar Ramón really is a place to hang out. Once you sit down and order a glass of wine, a blanca (beer in a white mug) or a vermouth, the spirit of Ramón takes over and you’ll order food and talk to people until suddenly it’s past midnight.

The crowd isn’t just locals or aging rockers. All sorts of people love Bar Ramón, and they flock to this hole-in-the-wall spot from all over town and even further afield. They have one thing in common: they’re secret gourmets. You’d never guess how great the food is from Bar Ramón’s unassuming, unpretentious look. The cold tapas are particularly creative: the other night, I had a salmon and apple pie, and roasted vegetables layered with flavourful, soft cheese. The hot tapas tend to be more traditional and offer a little journey to different corners of Spain: Galician-style octopus, fried cuttlefish, grilled prawn and pineapple skewers (a little modern twist), roasted potatoes with an ever so slightly spicy Brava sauce, and the Catalan classic pa amb tomaquet or bread rubbed with tomato, olive oil, garlic and salt. I really only have one piece of advice when going to Bar Ramón: bring a bunch of friends so you can order and try as many tapas as possible!

Bar Ramón Carrer Comte Borrell corner Tamarit; 93 325 0283

My thanks for this Guest post to Aisha Prigann who writes the BCNinternet Barcelona Blog about culture, leisure and tourism in Barcelona, including tips on accommodation and fun things to do in the city.

All photos by Aisha Prigann

More Spanish pleasures

The Moorish charms of the Alhambra in Granada
Seafood on the beach – at the Chringuitos in Spain
The sweet taste of Horchata in Valencia

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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