The remarkable Roman Baths in the city of Bath
We left the narrow but charming comforts of the Cotswolds and headed for Bath and ultimately on to London.
We ditched the rental car, hopped into a surly taxi and in moments found ourselves in front of the Roman Baths…surrounded by a henge of luggage.
I pointed at a sandwich board outside a barbershop that offered what we needed; Luggage storage. Kaety whispered, “Are you shitting me?! We are leaving all our worldly goods at a barbershop?”
Moments later we were luggage-less and heading to meet our timed entry to the Roman Baths.
Kaety and Symone opted for the audio tour devices. I opted for jackdaw mode – racing back and forth between whatever attracted me most.
The upper levels were committed to a historic interpretive preamble before seeing the actual bath site.
As we looked over the mandatory diorama Kaety turned away from her audio feed and said, “When you talk about slavery and human sacrifice in a British accent it all sounds so…cheery”.
The ruins were in phenomenal shape. Dating from 60 AD and in use for 400 years – the extensive complex of pools fed from one of England’s only consistent hot springs.
While walking on the main pool level we marveled at the lead water pipes and the Roman foundations that had been coopted and were still holding up the nearby Bath Cathedral. I was admiring some intricate mosaic when my teen daughter interjected, “I just thought about something someone did to me once that hurt my feelings”
I turned to her, “Darling, we are in a 2000-year-old Roman ruin, can we wait to process your feelings once we return to our own century?”
As we neared the exit we made all the bath puns we could muster, which lead me to realizing that I actually needed to use the bathroom.
The restroom was filled with a cacophony of odd international cell phone use. On one side of me was a Japanese guy yelling the same phrase over and over again into his cell phone. The guy on the opposite side of me was watching a Full House rerun dubbed over in French. All of this was juxtaposed with loud Venetian choir music playing over the bathroom speakers.
I emerged from the restroom to find my daughter and wife in the gift shop, which was full of bath products. Literally. I guess we aren’t the only ones with a sense of humor.
We returned to the street level, leaving Ancient Rome behind – next stop London!
Tips for visiting the Roman Baths in the city of Bath:
Buy your ticket to the Roman Baths ahead of time on-line. It’s a popular site and they regulate crowds with timed entry.
The Baths are a remarably well preserved site. It’s easy to imaging the life of the times as you move through the site.
The rail stop is literally a stones throw away from the Roman Bath entrance. Bath is an easy stop to put on any England itinerary no matter which direction you may be traveling.
Depending on how you consume your historic sites, you can spend as little as an hour or as much as three hours visiting the Roman Baths.
Many of the nearby shops offer luggage storage for a small fee. There is also a Bounce site near the railway station and entrance to the Baths
