Bath

We visited the city of Bath last Saturday.  It is a very interesting place.  Long an important city, much of it was rebuilt in Georgian times and the architecture reflects that period.  One of the things we most enjoyed while wandering the city, though, were the pig sculptures that appeared in various unlikely places.

The Bath Abbey is also a pretty amazing architectural gem.

This fountain outside the Abbey is inscribed “Water is Best”, revealing the reason Bath has been so special to everyone including the Celts and the Romans thousands of years ago.

This is the entrance to the Roman Baths and the associated Pump House on the same plaza as the Abbey.

Inside you can get a sense of what it might have been like in Roman times.  I tried to imagine folks wandering around in togas.  Actually, there were a few actors who played the part fairly effectively.

This carving was once over the entrance to the baths.  It is most commonly assumed to be of a gorgon, one of the symbols of Minerva, the Roman goddess to whom the baths were dedicated.  Traditionally, the gorgons were female, but If you look closely, you can see some snakes in his hair and beard.  It may also represent some sort of water god, reflecting the more ancient Celtic traditions.  Beautiful work, regardless.

This is the King’s Bath, the source of the hot water from deep underground.  Water from this pool was brought to the various other pools in the complex.

The drain from the King’s Pool was stained red with iron deposits.  I can only imagine how magical this must have seemed to people many years ago who could have had no way of imagining where the hot water came from and why it turned things red.  It still seems miraculous today, even with our more advanced geological knowledge.

The water was pleasantly warm in the main pool.  I wouldn’t really want to swim laps, but I can easily imagine lounging here.  It seems like a giant hot tub!

In other rooms, the floors were heated using this ingenious system.  Piles of tiles created space for hot air to circulate under the floor, warming the cold stones.  A swim, sauna, and massage sound pretty nice about now.

Later, in the Pump House, we tasted the waters from the bath.  The tea room known as the Pump House has apparently been a fixture of the Bath social scene for hundreds of years.  The waters have long been prescribed as medicinal.  People came here to imbibe as well as perform their ablutions.