Monday, August 14, 2017

Trip to Ireland, Scotland, Britain: Bath and Stonehenge

After spending three days and four nights in the Cotswolds, we drove to Bath, a beautiful city centered around 2000 year old Roman baths which have been amazingly preserved.



We toured the baths, visited the Pulteney Bridge, ate at Sally Lunn's and took a bus tour of the city, admiring the beautiful architecture, including the Circus and the Royal Crescent, two sets of residences built in a distinct crescent shape. No doubt you have seen them in British television dramas. 


The highlight of our time in Bath was an evening tour of Stonehenge. We boarded a minibus with 18 other tourists and drove to the ancient site after the visitor center closed and tourists had left for the day.  On the way, we stopped and visited Avebury, site of even more stones spread out over a much wider area. 


Sheep were grazing among the stones and homes were a few yards away.  Not all the stones are still there as the Catholic Church encouraged farmers in the Middle Ages to remove the stones as they considered them demonic.  We also visited a preserved medieval village, had dinner at a tavern once frequented by Charles Dickens, and then made our way to Stonehenge in time to see the stones at sunset.  Unlike other tourists who must stay behind a fence, we were allowed to walk up to the stones and take pictures.  It was an amazing experience, the highlight of our entire trip.  I had heard about Stonehenge for so many years, and seen so many documentaries about it, that to actually be able to walk right up to the stones and see the evidence of how they once fit together was something I will never forget, nor be able to adequately describe.  Here are a few pictures. 





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