The Roman Baths at night are incredible….beautiful – hot – humid – and a touch mystical….but that could be the steam fogging up my contacts…
Yeah…the Roman did the whole taking-over England thing….back in the day….they introduced the public baths to the Brits and a new way to indulge in religion.
We got to Bath in the afternoon – after mass. It’s about an 1 1/2 hours away from Central London. This is Bath Abbey. The first king of England (the dude who unified all the little kingdoms running rampant in the the country, at the time) was crowned here – Edgar. William the Conqueror’s son did his coronation here as well. According to Lonely Planet – the abbey’s been here since 944 AD.
Here’s one of the many cute streets of shops and pubs in Bath. On the left-hand side – with the Roman-looking facade – that’s the Roman Baths.
Tis’ the season for Xmas Markets. Plenty of handcrafts, goodies and mulled wine.
The Roman Bath ticket includes your own audio tour.
The Roman Baths have been here since AD 44….it was this huge Temple complex dedicated to this hybrid goddess: Sulis-Minerva. (Sulis: Celtic goddess…Minverva: Roman goddess of wisdom).
Excavations are still going on….this is the piedment from the main temple.
By the time we got down to the waters – it was dark.
The water’s still hot…it’s also unfiltered….and I’ll try to stop thinking about the millions of people who ignored the sign: “Don’t touch the water” and dipped their fingers into the bath…..
The abbey looks very dramatic, all lit-up at night…
It felt relaxing to sit by the water….
After the Roman Baths…we wandered around the town. Like Central London – it was also decked out for the holidays.
We finished up the night with a walk by the River Avon….which also flows through the town of Salisbury….you know…that’s next to Stonehenge.
