Welcome to Cardiff

Posted by Helia on Aug 12, 2010 in Groupon News | 5 comments

Today we’re introducing our newest blogger Helia, a Cardiff lady, who knows pretty much everything that’s going on– read all about Helia on her profile page here and check out her personal blog, where she talks about Cardiff-related stuff. If you want to keep up with the latest posts, don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed.

As this is my first blog post here, I thought I’d use it to do two things – introduce myself, and introduce the fine city which I’m representing – Cardiff.

Meet Helia: she's pretty darn awesome

I was born here, though when speaking to me you’ll be hard pushed to find any trace of a Welsh accent, as I moved to a number of cities in the south when I was young enough for it to make a difference. The Cardiffian in me peeks out occasionally, through Welshisms like “over by there” and “I’ll be there now in a minute”. I moved back to Cardiff when I was 20 to go to university, and I fell in love with the city. As many times as I’ve moved away since – once to the other side of the world – something keeps pulling me back.

If you’ve never been to Cardiff, you probably know of the city’s (unearned) reputation for being the stag/hen/drunk capital of the UK. And sure, on a Saturday night down the main drag in town, it can get pretty lively. But there’s so much more to Cardiff than that. You rarely hear of all the excellent things we have going on: film festivals, music festivals, cheese festivals, beer festivals, poetry slams, the mardi gras, gigs, clubnights, free parties, exhibitions, free lectures, talent contests.

Cardiff indoor market

The Welsh National Opera are based here, as is the National Theatre of Wales. Cardiff even has its own resident circus, the NoFit State, who also offer courses in everything from trapeze to hula hooping. Given our capacity for sporting events (the Millennium Stadium is pretty big!) we play host to more sporting events than you could ever hope to watch: rugby, football, cricket, speedway, racing rallies, even dirtbiking and monster trucks! Cardiff’s shopping has always been noted for small, niche boutiques in the cities many arcades. And with the addition of St David’s 2 – a massive indoor shopping complex – you couldn’t want for much more to spend your pennies on. Cardiff Castle is situated right in the city centre, and behind it is Bute Park, 56 hectares of greenery, rivers and trees that provide a quick and easy escape from the city centre.

Cardiff’s surroundings have a lot to offer in terms of wildlife and history. We’re within a short driving distance of the Gower – a beautiful stretch of coastline with golden beaches, the first place in the whole of the UK to be named an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Just south of Cardiff on the rugged coast of the Vale of Glamorgan are rocky beaches that attract fossil hunters from around the world, while to the north sits the fairy tale castle, Castle Coch – and beyond that, the gorgeous Brecon Beacons.

Cardiff Castle, Bute Park

Without wishing to sound like a bit of a rubbish tourism ad, I really believe it to be true: Cardiff’s got a lot to recommend itself to visitors. And given the masses of cheap hotel offers you can find regularly through websites like Groupon or mailouts like Money Saving Expert, you’ve got no excuse for not coming to visit.

For my next blog post, I’ll be doing a tour around one of the city’s newest (and most controversial) areas: the beautiful Cardiff Bay.

Photography: Auntie P and mostuncool