Bath Time

Bath is a lovely town not too far by train or car to the West of London and makes a great side trip while your here. It has a long history as it has the only natural hot springs in all of Great Britain. And during the Roman occupation in the first century, they built the Roman Baths and temples on the springs to pay worship to Minerva, the goddess of the hot springs. The Baths became buried overtime and went unnoticed below the feet of the town until the 1600s.

Later in the 1700s after visits to the baths by aristocracy Bath became a fashionable spa town to live and visit in England and high society could be seen everywhere, and people once again . Our first stop though was the Roman Baths.
The first view you get upon entering the Roman Bath museum is the great pool that was the main part of the Roman Baths, it's green from algae and you definitely don't want to go into it. If you must have a dip in the natural hot springs, try the new Thermea Spa down the street.
These statues are a 'new' addition to the baths to pay tribute to the Roman emperors and generals and were erected in 1897 when the baths became the museum it is today. A view from the ground level.

Even local ducks enjoy a dip in the warm water.

Attached to the main bath is a museum dedicated to the remainder of the Roman site where you can learn about the temple that was once on place.

This is a nice look at Roman engineering and is the Spring overflow which leads to...

The drain, which sends the water all the way to the local river over 400 yards away. (sometimes so mind boggling to remember this was all built almost 2000 years ago!) The main areas of the square, and the door in the distance on your right is the old entrance.
A large source of the water
The remainder of a gold guild statue or Minerva found in the drain.

And the remains of the steam room. These pillars were below the floor, which allowed the warm steam to circulate below the floor heating it and the room, you must wear shoes on that hot floor! But massages and such were given in this room before getting into the bath.

Overall we spent at least a couple hours here, with the great audio guide that was provided with admission. Well worth the visit!

Look for another post coming up on other attractions in Bath. I didn't want to bore you to death with too much in one post!