The city of Bath is a famous spa town in England that dates back to the Roman times. It's an hour away from me, and recently I did a day trip there. The most famous landmark in Bath is undoubtedly the Roman Baths, a must for pretty much all visitors. Us locals don't tend to go unless we have visitors. My brother went the other week when he had friends from America. At £23 a head, it cost him nearly £100 and he said the spa water was quite murky!! I had no intention of going, regardless of visitors and murky waters, but I did take a photo from outside.
The Roman Baths is very important to Bath, so important that in 1739 the Royal Mineral Hospital was established, along with a law, giving everyone, including the very poor to use the water from the Roman Baths for healing purposes. I think it seems kind of wrong that we need a law to give everyone equal opportunity to use natural resources. But hey, those were different days.
This is the hospital building, still standing quite grand after nearly three hundred years. It's been sold to private ownership some years ago and apparently they want to convert it to a hotel. I hope it goes ahead as I hate seeing these beautiful buildings fall to derelict.
The Circus and Royal Crescent
Bath is considered an affluent and posh area, as can seen by some of the nicest part of the city. The Circus has a green area in the centre and a circular ring of Georgian houses surrounding it. This photo really doesn't do it justice, you really need to see it with your own eyes to experience the grandeur off all this. If I ever win the lottery, The City Circus would definitely make my list of potential new homes.
The other area which is also very desirable is the Royal Crescent. It's not called Royal for no reason. The crescent of houses has a massive green area in front of it. When the weather is nice, you'll always find people lazing around outside, watching the world go by, or maybe thinking what it would be like to live inside. That certainly crossed my mind when I stopped for my packed lunch. A ditch and meadow separates them, to be stop people going up to the houses. You can of course still walk outside or drive outside, and when I did, my mind started to wander inside the houses again. Really need to win that lottery to stop my imagination going wild.
Pulteney Bridge
This is Pulteney Bridge on the right. Can't see it? That's because it's a bridge lined with buildings on both sides along the whole bridge. There are only four of such bridges in the world, the most famous one probably being the Ponte Vecchio on Florence, Italy. And if you really must know, the other two are in Germany and Venice, also on Italy.
The Pulteney Bridge was built by a wealthy local lawyer and politician in 1770. His family had a massive estate located across the River Avon from the main city centre and he wanted to build a bridge to connect the two. He had a wealth to do that and decided he wanted not only a bridge, but a spectacular bridge. He got his wish, and 250 years later Bath has one of the most remarkable piece of history.
I walked across Pulteney Bridge, it's only 45m long, and look what I found!!
Then I strolled down to the river side, it was lovely to sit there under the sun watching the world go by. It was beautiful across the river, the reflection of the Empire Hotel dropping into the River Avon.
However, for the most stunning view one has to cross the Pulteney Bridge back to the other side to see the Pulteney Weir. This is unarguably the most famous view of Bath.
Ever since the Middle Ages, Bath has suffered from flooding from the River Avon. In 1603 a Weir was built to regulate the flow of water to lessen the flood damage. Then in the 1970s, the weir was rebuilt into this three tier striking horseshoe shape, firmly cementing its place as Bath's most famous landmark.
