England Adventures: Bath

Monday morning dawned with some glorious sunshine, so I knew I had to get out and take advantage of it while the sun lasted. (Today as I write, the weather is dreary and wet again, so I definitely made the right choice!)

One of the easiest day trips from Bristol is Bath, which Jane Austen aficionados will probably recognize as a oft-mentioned locale in her novels. Pretty much you get on the train, and roughly fifteen minutes later you’re in Bath. So with the sun shining, and ‘Persuasion’ loaded up on my Kindle, I set off for the day.

Bath is an incredibly picturesque city. Most of the buildings, especially those in the city center, are built from Bath Stone, which is slightly golden colored, and large portions of the current city date from the 18th and 19th century, with a distinctly Georgian style throughout the architecture. The result is really lovely, and I could have just wandered the streets for ages, enjoying the atmosphere.

My first stop was the Roman Baths, which is an archeological site and museum featuring the Roman bath house built atop the hot springs in Bath. The hot springs were known as a sacred healing place prior to the Roman invasion, tracing back to the building of a Celtic temple dedicated to the goddess Sulis, but the Romans were really the first to build a full bathing complex incorporating the hot springs around 70 AD, which lead to a town growing up around the baths. The Romans called the town Aquae Sulis, meaning the waters of Sulis, keeping the name from the original temple. The baths existed until the Romans withdrawal in the 5th century, when they fell into disrepair and were basically lost. The current site has excavated the original Roman Baths, and you are able to walk around the complex and get a sense of what it would have been like to spend a day bathing as a Roman (though you aren’t allowed into the ancient baths). It’s very cool. Next door to the Roman Baths is Bath Abbey, which is another impressive Gothic building worth viewing. I couldn’t be tempted inside this time, because it was just so sunny out, but I don’t think this was my last visit to Bath, so I’ll put on the list for next time.

After wandering further through the city and viewing bits of architecture, and scenes along the river, I walked across the historic Pulteney Bridge, which was built in the 18th century as both a bridge over the River Avon and a shopping arcade, similar to the Rialto Bridge in Venice. It is one of the few surviving bridges in Europe that still has a dual purpose as such. On the other side of the bridge you can walk down Great Pulteney Street, which again I found really picturesque, as it entirely features the grand facades of Georgian terraces on each side of the boulevard (also the widest street in Bath).

Forgoing further exploration on that side of the river, I found lunch at a very cute spot, The Green Bird Cafe, on my way between The Circus and The Royal Crescent. If you’re in the area I do recommend it: the staff was friendly, the food was good, and the coffee was nice and hot on a chilly clear day like the one I was enjoying!

For my last stop of the day I enjoyed viewing the Royal Crescent, which is a very recognizable feature of Bath. Again displaying a perfect example of Georgian architecture, the crescent features 30 terraced houses and was built in the late 18th century. Interestingly, the public facade was the only thing explicitly designed as a whole; the original owners bought a length of the facade, and then proceeded to build their accommodations behind the facade to their own desires. When viewed from above, there’s quite a difference between the uniformity of the public crescent and the varying back views of the individual homes.

No. 1 Royal Crescent is currently established as a museum, and has been restored to reflect the living style of the owners in the late 18th century. I of course couldn’t resist exploring this a bit, and very much enjoyed seeing all the antiques and reading about the different activities and courtesies that wealthy families in polite society expected and demonstrated. It was a fun way to end my first visit to Bath, though I really do want to explore more of the city and the area, as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Next time maybe I’ll even enjoy the waters myself! (The Thermae Bath Spa offers a modern day facility for ‘taking the waters’.)