Cardiff

In 1801, only 1,870 people lived in Cardiff. It was so tiny that a writer called it "an obscure and inconsiderable place."

But by 1913, Cardiff's port was shipping more stuff than London or Liverpool. That's one of the wildest growth spurts any city has ever pulled off.

The Romans built a fort here around 75 AD right next to the River Taff. That's where Cardiff gets its Welsh name, Caerdydd, which means "fort on the Taff."

Vikings showed up around 850 and used the town as a base for their ships. Then in 1091, a Norman lord named Robert Fitzhamon built a castle right on top of the old Roman walls. You can still see parts of those Roman walls today.

Cardiff stayed small and quiet for hundreds of years. Then coal changed everything.

In 1839, a wealthy family called the Butes built a dock and connected it by canal and railway to coal mines in the valleys up north. Trains loaded with coal rumbled down to the port, where ships carried it all over the world.

By 1913, Cardiff was exporting 10.7 million tonnes of coal every year. Sailors from over 50 different countries moved to the docklands neighborhood called Tiger Bay. But when the world stopped needing so much coal, the boom ended. By 1964, not a single coal ship left the port.

The Bute family didn't just build docks. The 3rd Marquess of Bute hired an architect named William Burges to turn Cardiff Castle into something out of a storybook.

Burges packed the rooms with golden ceilings, carved animals, and even an Arab Room with a golden Moorish ceiling inspired by Islamic art from Spain and North Africa. In 1947, the Bute family gave the castle to the city as a gift. Cardiff became the capital of Wales in 1955.

Tour the castle's wild rooms, then walk through Bute Park to Cardiff Bay and the massive Wales Millennium Centre. Grab hot Welsh cakes dusted in sugar from Bakestones in Cardiff Market.

Try Welsh rarebit, which is melted cheese mixed with mustard on thick toast (no rabbits involved, despite the name). Drive 15 minutes to St Fagans, a 100-acre outdoor museum where over 50 real historic buildings from across Wales have been taken apart and rebuilt piece by piece.