Cardiff and Cardiff Castle

The city of Cardiff is the capital of Wales, and has only been so since 1955. Cardiff is also Wales’ largest city and the seventh largest in the United Kingdom.  Cardiff is also the home of the Wales National Rugby Union team, which plays in the impressive Millennium Stadium. This stadium also held some of the athletic events of the 2012 Olympics in England.

One of the most interesting tourist sites in Cardiff is its Castle. A mixture of Roman ruins, a fortress of William the Conqueror, and a 19th-century interpretation of what a medieval castle should look like.

The Romans built a fortress on the site where the castle now stands in the 3rd Century, and in the 11th Century, William the Conqueror commissioned a castle to be constructed on those Roman ruins. Throughout its history, the castle has undergone numerous reconstructions and modifications.

The last was in the 19th Century, by the third Marquess, who commissioned William Burges to remodel it in a Gothic style, and today it is considered one of the most magnificent examples of that style. Throughout the centuries, this castle has been the site of numerous battles and sieges in its many different forms. Today, the Castle is owned and operated by the city of Cardiff as one of its most popular attractions.

North Wales and the National Slate Museum

From Cardiff, we headed into North Wales, where we drove through the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park.

You can take a narrow-gauge train through the heart of the Snowdonia region to get the full wonder of its fabulous mountain scenery.

At the National Slate Museum in Gilfach Ddu, you’ll learn the history of that region’s slate industry. The quarrying of slate in Wales dates back to the Roman occupation, when it was used for the roofs of their forts.

The slate industry in Wales grew slowly until the early 18th century, when it experienced rapid expansion. By the late 19th century, nearly 17,000 men were employed by the quarries due to the high demand. Beginning in the 20th century, as the use of other materials for roofing gained popularity, the slate industry began to decline.

Slate is still used today, albeit on a much smaller scale. The buildings used by the museum were constructed in 1870 as workshops to service the needs of the Dinorwic slate quarry and its locomotives.

The museum honors those men who worked the difficult jobs in quarrying and transporting what was once the dominant industry of northern Wales.