City of Arcades

I mentioned in yesterday's blip, the arcades. Cardiff is indeed known as the city of arcades. They date back to the late 1800s which I find incredible and they are really beautiful. They house small, independent and often slightly obscure shops, they have flagstone pavements running through them, ornate features on the wooden windows frames and metal arches. They have this olde worlde charm that I love.

This is the Castle Arcade and one where you can go upstairs to the balconies. I wouldn't know these shops existed if I hadn't wandered up with the camera.

It hasn't wasn't too easy to process the image to show the best of the arcades, it ended up looking too busy in a way, but hopefully you get an inkling of how wonderful they are.