Bath is one of the most gorgeous places we'd ever seen. Every building is made of Bath Stone, which makes the whole place look like a postcard. It reminded me a bit of Monaco, in that the mentality of the founders seems to be 'build a township, make it small, but do it well.' It has everything you need, but still manages to appear very old, and still unspoiled despite the number of tourists.
We set off on one of the Mayor's free walking tours on Saturday morning for two hours, which was more than enough time to walk the entire town of Bath (it's tiny!) Bath was once a medieval walled city, and it eventually expanded to include residential housing outside the township. While the walls no longer exist there is still an obvious divide between the town and the surrounds, and our guide talked us through the history and pointed out all the things that make Bath so damned charming!
Things we loved about Bath:
- How everything is made of stone! When Bath was established, the buildings were made of the stone found it the area. As it became more popular, a guy named Ralph Allen invested all his money into stone quarries. He then got elected as Mayor, and decreed that all buildings in Bath must be made of stone. Good one Ralph!
- The Circus block of houses and the Royal Crescent overlooking the rolling hills surrounding Bath. Everything was so pretty. Plus Nicolas Cage owns number 7.
- Bath Abbey and the bells that ring out all over the town.
- The Avon Valley and all the leaves turning yellow. We had some sunshine, but it was definitely cool here this weekend!
- Seeing the house Jane Austen lived in.
- Hopping on the purple Scarpers Tour bus and driving out to Stonehenge. On the way are ancient roman burial grounds, the site of lots of freaky crop circles!
- Seeing Stonehenge out in the middle of the field. Construction on Stonehenge started 2600BC, which is a ridiculously long time ago! The heaviest stone weighs 45 tonnes - how on earth they moved these, let alone get them ontop of each other 15ft in the air, remains one of the greatest mysteries. To this date no one knows why it was built - some say its a type of sundial/sun calendar, others say a temple for sacrifices or festivals. The complete lack of evidence on Stonehenges' purpose made for a very interesting audio tour - I kid you not what I say one of the lines from the audio guide was 'this rock is pointing out the route of the procession that our ancestors may or may not have taken'. Everything about why it exists it speculative, but there's no denying that it's pretty amazing how they built it. Oh, and the guidebooks don't tell you that it is next to a sheep farm and smells like shit.
- Seeing a free range pig farm and free range chicken farm on the way to Stonehenge. So cute!
- Visiting the ancient Roman Baths, which were built over 2000 years ago. The main bath has been preserved amazingly well, and while the water is pretty dirty looking, it is still steaming and bubbling away from the heat of the earth. They have done an incredible job restoring it as a museum with an audio guide. We walked through the ruins to the steam rooms, cold water immersion baths and the heated thermal spas. You can't swim in them anymore as they're heritage listed, and the water is untreated so it's pretty bad for you. Brian was disappointed as he brought his boardies along. A private business has cashed in and built fancy day spas using the thermal waters but we didn't go in. We just wanted to see the ancient ones, and they were really awesome.
- Having a picnic lunch in the park, with gardens full of vegetables and herbs. Brian wants me to write that the rhubarb and strawberry slice we got from the bakery was also worth a mention.
Thanks for having us Bath, despite some rain we agree with everyone who told us how charming you were. When we were just walking along the river, everyone we passed could be heard saying 'it's just so pretty!'
Back on the train to London now, grocery shopping and washing await us!
Kobi & Brian
Xxx
The ancient Roman baths
Bath streets
