Bath

We rose with the lark…OK, with the sparrow, or one of the lazier birds, in order to be able to get to Bath before the queues for the Baths became too long. We had a bit more trouble with Sattie on the way as we’d attempted to programme a multi-stop trip. We got the first leg done OK, but then Sattie sulked and said “Can’t connect” despite there being an obvious connection. So Nicola got us there on her phone instead, and we parked in Charlotte Street.

The walk into town from there isn’t very far, and there are numerous maps on signposts to help the visitors to the city. We found the Roman Baths, but there were a large number of people milling about at the entrance. Was this the queue to get in? No, it turns out that around 50 people had taken it into their tiny minds to mill around just by the entrance. Bloody tourists! We pushed our way through and joined the far shorter line of people who were actually attempting to visit the baths. We collected an audio guide each, then had to return through the milling throng because mine didn’t work. There’s a lot of milling going on! Finally we were able to set out on the tour, listening to descriptions and commentary – some provided by Bill Bryson – as we reached each new area.

Aquae Sulis, apparently

We started on the upper terrace, then moved progressively deeper into the baths, learning how they’d been built by the Romans (what did they ever do for us?) and the temple of Sulis Minerva, how it was a religious site as well as a place to get washed, and understanding the different types of rooms based on temperature, and what happened in each. All along the way there were visual aids as well, some reconstructing how it would have looked from the remains available, and some showing typical scenes from Roman times. At the end there was an opportunity to taste the actual water from the spring. It tastes disgusting. We exited through the gift shop, acquiring a fridge magnet along the way.

Sulis Minerva

Next on the agenda was lunch. Whilst Bath offers the run-of-the-mill chain restaurants, we were after something I would describe as “not-chain”, and found a little café called Rosario’s down a little alleyway which should have been populated with many like establishments, but instead appeared to be full of sweet shops. Anyway, it was what we were looking for, and they were able to serve us with a panino and a bruschetta sandwich.

After lunch we headed into Bath Abbey and had a look around that. It’s impressive, but not as impressive as Wells, and we spent less time in there.

Bath Abbey

 

Finally, we had a bit of shopping to do, so popped into Marks & Spencer, then headed home. 

This is our last night in Bath, tomorrow we head for East Sussex to see what we can see there. Probably the sea.