Visiting London for couple of days you can always put aside one day to look around the neighbourhood of the capital. Only two hour drive separate London from beautiful, we would even dare to say ancient, city of Bath.
Standing on the River Avon, Bath became a spa under the Latin name Aquae Sulis which literally means “the water of Sulis”. The Romans begun the construction of baths in 60 AD by building the temple and in 300 years to come they continued building up a bathing complex. The theory says that the value and the healing power of hot springs were known even before, in the period of Anglo-Saxons.
With a foundation of a monastery in the 7th century, Bath became a religious centre and during the 9th century the old Roman street pattern was lost and Bath came under a royal possession. King Alfred laid out the town afresh, leaving its south-eastern quadrant as the abbey precinct. By the 15th century Bath’s abbey church was ramshackle and after the completion of the new church (which was derelict even before the end of the construction), it was restored as the city’s parish church. During the Elizabethan era the city experienced a revival as a spa after the improvement of baths. Bath gained the city status with a Royal charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590.
There is more to Bath than just the baths. You can climb the Bath Abbey’s Tower, take a stroll on the Bath Skyline Walk, marvel at the true Gregorian masterpieces, the romantic Pulteney Bridge (modelled on Florence’s Ponte Vecchio) or let yourself be stunned by its glorious gothic architecture. And when in Bath, why not visit more of the region like Stonehenge, a mysterious prehistoric monument of standing stones, Windsor Castle, the home of the Royal Family for 900 years or Salisbury Cathedral?