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With its first Roman fort established in 55AD, Cardiff officially became a city in 1905 and the capital of Wales in 1955. Cardiff is a seaside city, located on the Bristol Channel in south eastern Wales and is home to a population of 321,000 (2009). The city is said to be one of the flattest in all of the UK and while Wales has the reputation of being very wet, Cardiff actually has more hours of sunshine than does Milan!
Coal from the Welsh valleys, transported through its docks, made Cardiff the world’s busiest port and powered the Industrial Revolution there as well as in many other places around the world. Due to the huge influx of sailors and dock workers dealing with the export of Welsh coal and all manner of imports, a unique collection of nationalities and ethnic groups settled in the areas close to the docks. As a result Cardiff can boast that more than 100 ethnic communities have settled in the city over the last 100 years.
Cardiff is the only bi-lingual capital of the nations making up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and is considered by its residents as one of the best places to live and work in all of Europe. With three major universities, the city has a student population of around 72,000.
Cardiff has been awarded many accolades:
• One of the UK’s six best shopping destinations. It has a wide variety of shops in quaint Victorian arcades as well as modern shopping malls.
• “The 15 Minute City”, you are never far from where you want to be and because it is quite compact, it is very easy to get around this city.
• In 2009, it represented the United Kingdom as a European City of Sport. The development of a sports village, with Olympic sized swimming pool and snow dome, are among some of its modern sporting facilities.
• It has become an international sporting centre by hosting the Six Nations, international cricket, the FA Cup and the Wales Rally GB. The Millennium Stadium is the venue for many major sporting events.
• 2010 will see the Ryder Cup hosted in Cardiff
• It has the designation of a “Centre of Culture”, helped by hosting major artistic events at the National Museum Cardiff and the Wales Millennium Centre.
• It has the oldest record shop anywhere in the world – Spillers Records in the Hayes was first established in 1894.
• Designated as the world’s first Fair Trade Capital, Cardiff actively promotes ethical trading and encourages producers in third world countries getting a fair price for their goods.
And
• It has more green open space and parkland per capita than any other major regional city in the UK.
Cardiff has so much going for it and going on - there is something for everyone. You’ll find top class entertainment, indoor and outdoor attractions for all the family, excellent conference facilities, sports of all sorts including sailing on the large freshwater lake in the Cardiff Bay area, festivals of all kinds, shopping “with a difference”, restaurants and nightlife to suit everyone’s taste, its unique history and culture as well as the daily use of the Welsh language. You couldn’t choose a more interesting place to spend a weekend or a holiday. Come and experience the welcome only Cardiff can give.
Monika Nolte has created this article about City Breaks in Cardiff for Holiday Paradise
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