I have visited the last of the important places in this incredible stay in England: Bath. It has been really fantastic and up to scratch. The whole city is World Site Heritage (no wonder!!). There is only another city in the world with this honour: Florence in Italy.
Most of the city centre is pedestrian and traffic is very restricted, there are lots of squares, beautiful buildings and streets with many little shops, cafes, art galleries, restaurants, etc. Bath is in a valley and everywhere you look there are green hills surrounding the city so nature is really close. Inside the city, parks and trees are also common. All buildings follow the same guidelines using Bath stone, so it is very difficult to find something eyesore (apart from 3 ugly gas tanks!!).
I climbed up the 212 steps to the Abbey tower and the views were breathtaking. Just next to the Abbey are the Roman baths that originated the city many centuries ago and the rooms that attracted
the English nobility in the 18th century. Bath was then the cool place to go and everybody important went there for a time. If you want to know more about the everyday life of those days, read “Northanger Abbey” or “Persuasion" by Jane Austen (there is an exhibition centre dedicated to this writer).
However, later on Brighton became the new seaside resort (it was so close to London!!) and Bath was forgotten for a long time.
Pity!! or not, that made the city rest and be preserved for all us to enjoy today.
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