I don't know why that's so distressing. I've been to both, and Cardiff is just lovely, nowhere near as busy and confusing as London can be.

Well, I went to Cardiff once and from what I can remember it was very... odd. Then again, the area I was staying in felt very... low quality.

Well, I went to Cardiff once and from what I can remember it was very... odd. Then again, the area I was staying in felt very... low quality.

There's a comforting artificiality about Cardiff. Their biggest attraction is a castle which was built based on a romantic ideal of the medieval past, and as such has little actual historical relevance (aside from being used as a bomb shelter during the Blitz). But I visited right after a visit to Bath, where there were actual ruins dating back to ancient Rome, and you weren't allowed to touch ANYTHING. So comparatively, that "theme park version" of history was a welcome respite.

A lot of the rest of the city, from what I remember, is fairly modern and flashy while still having a certain quaintness to it. Plenty of bustling arcades full of shops and a very nice-looking library (unfortunately, I never got to visit).

It's possible that my short stay omitted the more unpleasant aspects of the city. But on a three-week whirlwind tour of England, Scotland, and Wales, my stay in Cardiff was one of the stops I'll always remember more fondly.