Bath and Me, Part 1.

My time in Bath.

I spent more than a year in Bath, went there to study at the University of Bath and fell in love with the breath taking beauty, culture, and its romantic history. In 1987 the City of Bath was inscribed as the World Heritage Site UNESCO and is famous for the Roman Baths and the mystical Springs. The glorious hot water springs bubbling over, which the city of Bath is built, since thousands of years. Bath Spa is a wheelchair accessible city, I promise you, the train station, the public buses and many of the modern shops are all wheelchair friendly. Everyone there is very welcoming and pleasant, they are always happy to help. As soon as one enters the City of Bath, that is, after a few minutes walk from the station through the town centre, the very first attraction is the bridge over the proudly flowing River Avon, just across the bridge is the magnificent gothic building the Bath Abbey (the Bath Abbey has its very own website at www.bafthabbey.org) and last but not the least the Roman Bath, they are right there and one can never miss them. The City offers a unique experience with stunning architecture, great shopping and iconic attractions and for further information on accommodation, theatre tickets, etc. please check out the following website www.visitbath.co.uk. Bath is always crowded with tourist from all over the world, may it be the warm lovely summers or the beautiful snowy winters, it is a place to be and has a different delightful look to it at any time of the year. I promise, each day in Bath was a different but pleasant experience for me. Although I was a student at the University of Bath but the university itself was huge and was situated on a hill, it is like a hill station and the entire city valley is seen, it is a stunning panoramic view and its breath taking gorgeous. If you are coming to visit Bath just for a day or two its best to take one of the hop-on and hop-off busses they are known as The Bath Sightseeing buses and the website is www.bathbuscompany.com/sights and they are fully wheel chair accessible.

As I mentioned earlier, as one enters the City of Bath via the Bath Spa train station, after walking straight for approximately eight minutes towards the town centre one gets the glimpse of the famous bridge. This bridge that crosses River Avon is called Pulteney Bridge and was constructed in 1773, it is a historic bridges in the world with shops and tea rooms built into it. As proclaimed by history, tea is said to be the British national beverage and the habit of taking full afternoon tea belongs to the leisurely English era. However, in order to experience this quintessentially English habit, Bath has the perfectly preserved Georgian terraces thus making it easy to travel back in time and imagine a proper gathering for tea. It is said that there is nothing more English than afternoon tea with a jam and cream scone or mouth watering slice of cake. One of the best tea rooms are situated within the bridge and in town. This magnificent structure was built for William Pulteney (he was a member of Parliament of England in 1768 and had invested in the construction of the bridge) by an architect named Robert Adams, and it connects central Bath to land on the other bank of the River Avon. Although it was purely built for a practical purpose and for businesses and trade but it is also one of the most romantic bridges in the world.

Bath is a city packed with stories and legends from history; it is a combination of the past, present and future. The historical buildings and monuments, the architecture of modern shops, restaurants, transport systems and future business plans are all intervened through architecture and design in such an ingenious way reminding people of its glorious past, present and future. When I was a student in Bath and whenever I’d need a break from University I would go into town and sit in the park next to the river, or take a visit of the Abbey, or sit near the Roman Baths, or just enjoy the festivals and streets parades in town taking place over the weekends.

To understand the City in its full glory I’ll speak a bit about the olden times of Bath. Before the Roman's arrived in Britain that is before Christ, the oak-tree lined grove with its bubbling orange-tinged waters was a spot held sacred by the Celts. They believed the hot spring, with its rich, mineral properties, was the work of the divine goddess Sul, responsible for medicine, fertility and healing. There is a legend (10,000 years back) about the spring discovery to the Celtic King Bladud. It is told that the eldest son of King Lud, Bladud was banished from his father's court when it was discovered that he had leprosy. But one day, the exiled son, who had become poorly to survive, saw his pigs wallowed in a particular muddy spot. The mud has the miraculous effect of improving the condition of their skin. Ever hopeful, he wallowed in the mud and was amazed to find his leprosy cured. Healed, Bladud returned to court and succeeded his father as King and in gratitude he formed a temple at the hot spring in honour of the goddess Sul.

The Roman Baths got its name from the Romans, in 43 AD the Romans invaded Britain from the Celtic and discovered the Baths and its healing properties they named it Aquae Sulis meaning the waters of Sulis. The Romans built a much bigger and better temple next to the Baths. In June 1688, recent history, James II's wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a child nine months after bathing in the Cross Bath (No one really knows if she became pregnant due to the waters or the other co-bathers). And that is how the Baths gained its vast popularity for its healing a fertility powers among public.

Please do stay in tuned to check out my second part on Bath and Me. Looking forward to read your comments and suggestions about my article on Bath.


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