Cardiff Bay Photo Gallery

After a half hour walk from the city centre, I reached the coast at Cardiff Bay. This place was once a bustling port exporting Welsh coal. In the mid-19th century, the coal trade developed and peaked in 1913 when almost 11 million tonnes of coal were exported out of here. Trading slumped during the depression in the 1930s and the emergence of cheaper German coal and rising use of oil marked a fundamental shift. Coal exports ended for good in 1964. Today, regeneration has turned the port area into a big tourist attraction with a number of sights and plenty of good walks. The western part of the bay is a shopping centre with the typical familiar chains. Continuing east, there is a nice waterfront promenade that stretches around the bay. The Pierhead opened in 1897 as headquarters of the railway company, replacing the Bute Dock Company offices which burned down in 1892. The Chief Dock Manager monitored the port from here and the accountants managed the books in the main hall. Coal was moved to the docks in wagons from south Wales' valleys. These heydays lasted about 70 years, with Cardiff once the world's busiest coal port in the world. The Norwegian Church is the oldest surviving church founded by the Norwegian Seamen's Mission in the country. Thousands of Norwegian sailors visited Cardiff in the 19th century with Scandinavian timber sent to Wales to construct their mines. They would then carry Welsh coal out. These sailors may spend weeks away from home on these trips, so the church served their religious and social needs. Falling into disrepair in the 1970s, money was raised to move the structure to Cardiff Bay in 1992 and renovate it. The Wales Millennium Centre opened in 2004 with a structure comprising 4500 tonnes of steel, cladding made from 2000 tonnes of recycled Welsh slate, and interiors decorated with Welsh hardwood. The Welsh Parliament meets in the Senedd, which opened in 2006 with glass walls that symbolize transparency, use of natural materials, and a funnel feature that draws natural light in. The site was previously a dock entrance. I arrived first thing in the morning shortly after it opened to check out the visitor's gallery with the legislative chamber beneath. Staff on site were very friendly and there are exhibition boards explaining the democratic process and parliament's role.