A famous legendary story around the city of Bath, Somerset in South-West of
England is that the first human activity evidence was found during 8,000 years
BC. The place had an air of mystery around it, with steam emerging from a
green, hot, lush swampy area. Prince Bladud father of King Lear, had contracted
leprosy and was cured after bathing in the hot muddy waters. In gratitude,
Bladud founded the City of Bath around the springs in 863BC.
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| Inside the Rome Bath |
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| Gorgeous Roman architecture |
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| Outside view |
Today, in the 21
st century these springs continue to draw the
curious wanderer, artists, lovers and poets. And why not? With its quaint high
street, cobbled lanes, velvety gardens, niche boutiques and Roman honey-coloured
buildings feasting your eyes in every corner, the beauty of Bath has to be seen
to be believed.
A UNESCO world heritage site, Bath was named as “Aquae Sulis” by the Romans
in AD 43. Much before Britain went around making colonies, Romans invaded and
colonised Britain. In AD 70, the Romans built a reservoir around the hot
springs before building a sophisticated series of baths and a temple dedicated
to the goddess Sulis Minerva. As a religious shrine and bathing complex, Aquae
Sulis attracted visitors from across Britain and Europe, making Bath a popular
destination.
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| Julius Caesar was a regular visitor |
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| Ancient artifacts |
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| Goddess Minerva |
With a very distinct air to it, Bath is very different from other English
cities. A great walking city, it is a slice of Rome in England. Bath has many
attractions but I could only manage the Roman Bath and the Prior Park Landscape
Garden.
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| Terrace View |
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| Green and hot |
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| Holy Spring |
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| The quaint neighbourhood |
Inside the Roman Bath museum, I learnt how the seemingly simple ritual of
bathing can be an important social and economic activity. Well below the modern
street level, the Roman Baths are known for four main features: the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the
Roman Bath House and the Museum.
The bath complex is
a remarkable example of engineering as well as Roman art and architecture. Once
completed in the 4th Century, it housed five healing hot baths, swimming pools
and cold rooms, sweat rooms heated by an ingenious early plumbing system, and
the Great Bath at the centre, where the surrounding statues of the Gods would
float eerily in the clouds of steam.
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| The honey colored buildings |
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| Bath Abbey |
Bathing, during that
period, was a ceremonial ritual where you socialised with people and even
carried on business. Today, the museum gives you a taste of Roman life with
actors dressed in various characters around the bath area.
The buildings above
street level date from the 19th century and are made in the Georgian style.
From the Roman Bath, I went to the lush-green Prior Park Landscape
Garden, just across the Roman Bath (the city is not a very big city). An
intimate 18
th century landscape garden, it gives you sweeping views
of the city. An ideal picnic spot, it is a place where you can get lost with
anyone or yourself.
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| Palladian Bridge |
Built by
entrepreneur Ralph Allen with advice from poet Alexander Pope and Lancelot
Brown, it is also very close to the famous Palladian Bridge, one of four in the
world. A stream tinkling with clear, cold blue water breaks the harmony of the
green landscape.
From here you can
clearly see the Bath Abbey, an Anglican Parish church founded in the 7
th
century. A fine example of perpendicular Gothic architecture, the Abbey is
characterised by sculptures of angels climbing to heaven, peal of ten bells, 52
windows and a large stained glass window. But its beauty lies in the fact that
it easily blends in with other Roman buildings in the area.
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| Greenery everywhere |
I sat there for what
seemed like forever and everywhere I turned my heart skipped a beat by the
beauty of this magnificent city. Needless to say, I felt a pang leaving the
place!
Until later dear
Bath.
