Bath and Beyond. . .

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Our first vacation —yeah! We went 3 hours west to visit the Roman Baths in Bath. What a beautiful city. The river Avon runs right through the middle of town. Magnificent architecture is seen throughout the city with the Royal Crescent, the Roman Bath house, and Bath abbey being the most notable.

When we arrived in Bath our first stop was the site of the Roman Baths. They are situated right in the city center. We were able to do a self guided tour and it was very informative. I wouldn’t suggest bathing in them anymore however—the water is a murky green color The water that fills the bath is from a natural hot spring and the temperature is about 46C (115F). It is full of 43 minerals and a bit of iron that causes an orange stain. The water is not really green it just appears green because of algae growth due to its heat and the sunlight. Back in the day the main bath was under a roof and therefore did not appear green. The water still travels to the bath today via the original Roman channels. The complex was built sometime after the Romans invaded in 43 AD.

The Romans believed the hot springs were sacred to the Goddess Sulis Minerva. There was a temple built in the complex and part of the tour walks through the remains of the temples courtyard. On display in the courtyard is a head from the statue of the Goddess Sulis Minerva. Many offerings and curses were thrown into the waters as petitions to the Goddess. The waters were used for bathing, socializing, and healing. There were thermal swimming and bathing baths, steam rooms and a cool water pool. These people were way above their time. Wait until you see the pics. Crazy.

The next day we decided to take one of the open-top bus tours that you can hop-on, hop-off as much as you want. We saw the Royal Crescent, the Circus, and an overall great tour of the city. After touring the city we took a short drive to the town of Wells. We visited a fantastic Cathedral—Wells Cathedral. The architecture is mostly Gothic and the façade of the cathedral has over 300 figures carved into the building. Amazing. The cathedral dates from the 12th century. The famous Wells Clock was interesting—the clock has its original Medieval face. When the clock strikes every quarter, jousting knights move around above the clock and the Quarter Jack bangs the quarter hours with his heels.

On our drive home we took the long way in order to get in a few more sites. We saw the Longleat House. Very disappointed in that visit. It ends up that this mansion is a tourist amusement park(no rides or anything but just a crazy mess of people). There’s a car park that is the size of a zoo’s car park! I was looking forward to wandering around the world’s longest hedge maze but there were too many people and we didn’t want to deal with it all. Took some pictures, and moved on. The next stop was at Stonehenge. It was not as boring as people here claim. Truly amazing site—we walked around, took some pictures and that’s about it. Doesn’t take long The final stop was at the Avebury stone circle. This site is actually older than Stonehenge—dating over 5000 years. It circles the entire town of Avebury. Took some more pictures and headed home. We had a great weekend and I highly advise anyone coming to England, making the trip to Bath. Brillant!

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Photos

Bath Abbey Windows
52 windows for 52 weeks of the year

Roman Bath House
Front entrance to the baths

The Great Bath
You know you want to go take a bath in that!

Model
This is what they think the Roman Bath site may have looked like

Temple Pediment remnants. . .
. . . excavated near the site in 1790

Replication of temple pediment
On the site of the roman baths was also a temple for the Goddess Sulis Minerva

Gifts to the Goddess
Offerings found in the baths in hopes of getting wishes answered from the Goddess

Foundation. . .
Walls have been created where they think walls existed. Here you can see remains of the original wall.

Sacrifice. . .
. . . this is part of the scrificial altar in what would have been the courtyard of the temple. Animals were sacrificed for the Goddess. This is the part in the tour where you start hearing sheep bahing. Weird.

Original Drain
This still drains water from the Spring to the River Avon.

Heated Floors
Wow, smart people. This is part of the underfloor heating system(hypocausts). They built up the floor so the hot water flowed underneath. Where the red paint starts, the floor layed.

Circular Bath
After spending time in the steam rooms you would finish the visit with a dip in the cold bath to close your pores.

Offerings. . .
. . . dollar bills in the Circular Bath!