Cardiff - the City of Arcades

Hands up who associated Cardiff with shopping arcades? According to Wikipedia (so it MUST be correct) the city has the highest concentration of Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary arcades of any British city.

I once went to Leeds and they had/have some fab arcades, fancy brightly painted wrought ironwork, but today, in the limited sunshine on offer, I spent a very satisfying half an hour photographing this most wonderful of Cardiff's, the beautiful Victorian (1887) Castle Arcade. The shops also were gorgeous, chic independents including a most fascinating Cardiff Violins - a huge shop that was a real Aladdin's cave. 

I found a longish telephoto zoom best, to bunch up the symmetry and to compress the details, as in this most sunny and colourful Blip. 

I did have to up the colour saturation a bit, but hey, ho, why not and if I may so myself, the result does look rather gorgeous.

And at last - a Blip from Wales with no Welsh words in it!!