[Europe Trip] On visiting Bath

Our train from London Paddington to the city of Bath was delayed for 40 minutes due to fatalities at Ealing Broadway. Left Paddington at 9.40am and reached Bath at 11 plus. Walked for 10 minutes under the drizzle to get to Roman Baths.

Roman Baths was a 2000 years old bath complex built and used by the Romans, originally consisted of the Great Bath, Roman temple, and a sacred spring. The hot springs were sacred to the Celtic goddess Sulis, whom the Romans later identified with the goddess Minerva.

Visit was started in the Victorian reception hall, where tickets were sold and audio guide handed in with no extra charge. We got the first glance at the Great Bath from the terrace, which overlooked the Great Bath and was lined with statues.

The Sacred Spring was the central of the site. Hot water at 46 degrees Celcius has been rising here at the rate of 1,170,000 litres daily for thousands of years. Objects were thrown into the Sacred Spring as offerings to the goddess, such as Roman coins and curses - rolled up sheets of lead or pewter with messages inscribed in them.

The Roman Bath landmark was built on the site where the ruins remained - it was rediscovered in the 18th century, The ruins were preserved as much as possible while adding in modern facilities like toilets, reception area, signages, posters and banners.

Roman bath ritual consisted of soaking themselves in hot water until it reached optimum temperature, then they were massaged by the servants to remove all dirts, and finally they returned to the rooms with descending order of heat and plunged themselves into the cold water. The circular bath on the site had this film of life-sized male bathers projected into the walls, as if they're preparing for a plunge. Interesting.

Each visitor was entitled to one glass of Bath water, served from the fountain at the restaurant. Actually water was available in a lot of places in the vicinity, but we're warned that water was not treated and might contains all sorts of bacteria. They said the Bath water contained 43 minerals. The water from the fountain, served in a glass, had no color, no smell, but it did taste weird. There was a strong hint of iron, to me it tasted like drinking normal water after you bit your lip until it bled.

We also managed to visit the Bath Abbey, its actual name is Church of St. Peter and Paul. It's a majestic historical building with 56 scenes of Jesus' life imprinted at the East-end window above the altar.

We bought sandwiches, swedish meatball wrap and caramel chocolate cheesecake from Pret A Manger for our lunch on board the train.

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Three words for Bath: rustic, charming, unique