DAYS OUT: Cardiff Castle

This week I had some emails telling me that Friendsfest tickets are on sale for this year. I guffawed loudly and remembered how crap it was last year – so overpriced and underwhelming (you can read about it, with pics, here). It didn’t help that we’d driven 100+ miles, from Birmingham to Cardiff, for the “privilege” and that it was one of the husband’s birthday presents.

Huge fail!

In an effort to make the day less of a fail we also went to Cardiff Castle, which was 10 minutes walk from Bute Park where FF was hosted. And honestly? That was a disappointment too! As a castle lover I was very much looking forward to visiting but I felt that it was overpriced (£12.50 per adult, for basic entry, plus an additional £3.25 for the house tour). Much of the castle has been rebuilt in more recent years, so it feels like it lacks authenticity (I like my castles gnarly and ruined and grand). The Norman keep was the best bit, in my opinion, as that’s what my idea of a castle is, and it’s a bit of a rip off to charge extra for the house tour considering how little else there is to see and do compared to other Welsh castles that charge much less for entry (we didn’t do it on principal and because it struck us more as entering into stately home territory, which isn’t really our bag).

It’s fair to say I wouldn’t recommend it unless you happen to be in the area (don’t make a special journey); there are much more interesting and striking castles in Wales.

On that note, here are some pics!

 

 

 

 

Have you ever been to Cardiff Castle? What did you think? Am I doing it a disservice?

Thanks, as always, for reading! x

A trip to Cheshire – Beeston Castle

This weekend we travelled up the M6 to the greenery of Cheshire, staying overnight on a voucher deal (more on that tomorrow). We were about a mile and a half from Beeston Castle, which is run by English Heritage, so we planned to drop the car off at the hotel and walk to the castle, have a mooch around and take some pictures.

Entrance to Beeston Castle

Entrance to Beeston Castle 2

When I checked the website last week, I was thrilled to find that there was an event on at the castle – Clash of the Knights. This involved a tournament of 4 teams clashing on the battlefield in a re-enactment of medieval Britain. A historical camp was set up and there were demonstrations of clothing and weapons, plus music and areas for children to battle against each other (although the weapons weren’t real, obvs!)

Clash of the Knights

Clash of the Knights

We took a picnic.

Picnic at the castle

Picnic - strawberries and cream

And cheered on the knights.

Clash of the Knights

Clashof the Knights 4

Clash of the Knights

Clash of the Knights

Clash of the Knights

(did you know that shields, contrary to popular belief – and Hollywood representations – were made of wood? Metal would be too heavy and dent easily, plus if someone hit a metal shield the knight holding it would get painful reverberations up their arm. Wood is lighter and more forgiving. Shields would be thrown away at the end of each battle and replaced for the next one).

Then we climbed up to the castle ruins.

Beeston Castle

At the bottom of the hill are the remnants of what would have been the ramparts. The views were stunning.

Beeston Castle

Beeston Castle

The castle ruins are up a rather steep hill, and an even steeper slope.

Beeston Castle 2

Beeston Castle

But again the views are fabulous – 360 degrees of countryside.

Beeston Castle

Beeston Castle

Beeston Castle

Beeston Castle

We had a fabulous afternoon of sunshine, fresh air and history. A perfect Saturday!

Malaga – way more than just an airport

My travel retrospective yesterday got me thinking about past travels and city breaks.

I love getting away for a weekend. Short breaks concentrate your efforts in terms of seeing everything and doing stuff. Whilst not the most relaxing of times, I always feel fulfilled and satisfied by just how much I’ve managed to do. No time for having a lie in or an afternoon nap. It’s all about cramming it all in.

Quite often a city break for us can stem from seeing a cheap flight and investigating whether the destination is worth visiting. Which is how we ended up in Malaga 5 years ago.

For most Malaga is a gateway to the Costas. Brits who have holiday homes in Spain flock to the airport, or through the airport, from the beginning of the sunny season through til the end. Families on their two week escape looking for sea, sun and sand will land at the airport and be whisked away by tour operator coaches to their coastal destination of choice. But there is so much more to Malaga.

I don’t recall what made me look into it as a destination in itself, but I was so glad I did. Husband wasn’t convinced but I implored him to trust me. In mid April, flying out on a Thursday, flights were still reasonable and we got a basic but modern, adequate and well situated IBIS hotel at a steal. The actual trip cost us around £100 each for two nights.

First things first…Malaga is very Spanish. Which seems a case of stating the bleeding obvious, but it’s true. Because it’s not a tourist destination there is no “need” for everyone to speak English. As a result (and refreshingly so) Spanish is the first language. There is a need to communicate via pigeon English and pointing at menus when ordering food. Shops don’t have English signs. There’s a real feel of being in Spain, despite the influx of Brits through the vicinity on a daily basis.

Malaga, for me, has it all. The climate (it was 25 degrees in the day and around 15 degrees at night, and that was end of April), the food (bars and cafes serving authentic tapas, and tiny backstreet alley restaurants delivering the best paella ever for about 10 euros), the architecture (white washed buildings, cathedrals and a castle in the hills) and the sea (it’s on the coast. Who knew?!)

Oh, and when we arrived, they’d had a film festival in the city, so there was a red carpet running through the pedestrian area. And not to welcome us, as I thought might be the case.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking,

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Malaga is all about timing. Due to it’s popularity for reaching coastal destinations flights can actually be prohibitively expensive in summer. But time it right early or late in the season, with a mid week flight, and it’s well worth a visit.