Visiting Jane Austen in Bath

As we drove into Bath, all I could think was "wow." The entire city is built from limestone, which means that all of the buildings glow gold in the light of the sun. It almost looks like a fairy tale kind of place, filled with beautiful architecture and picturesque green spots. If I had to sum up the city in a word - it's pretty. Really pretty.

We got dropped off in front of Bath Abbey, which is in the same plaza as the Roman Baths, our first stop of the day. The Abbey is beautiful, and the gothic details in the turrets are pretty amazing. The only negative was that it's difficult to get a comprehensive view of the church since the plaza right in front of it is quite small and full of performers and gawking tourists.

We quickly made our way into the Roman Baths, which is a lot bigger inside than it looks from the outside! It's the only natural occurring hot springs in the UK, and the Romans couldn't quite explain it so they chalked it up to more monkey business by the gods and thanked Minerva Sulis for their natural hot tub.

But they didn't forget to include themselves - there are a series of statues dedicated to the Roman emperors overlooking the main bath.

The baths underwent a revival in the 18th century, when fashionable people would leave their country estates and come to Bath to hang out and "take the waters" to cure common ailments such as gout. They even drank the stuff, convinced that the minerals and all the goodies in the water would improve their health.


Clearly, you don't want to drink this stuff. There are signs posted everywhere warning you to not touch the water, but that doesn't discourage the intrepid few who find slimy algae-filled water to be irresistible.

Right next door to the Roman Baths is the Pump Room, which is where the same fashionable people would meet their friends and drink the spa water. The Pump Room has now been transformed into a restaurant, and the spa water is still on offer for those that are curious about the taste.

We were pretty hungry by now so we wolfed down a quick lunch at Pret, and we soon found ourselves on Milsom Street! I was beyond excited because this was the shopping street that Jane Austen had written about in her novels, and I never thought I'd see it in person!

And it's still a shopping street, with loads of your typical British chains and some street vendors selling ice cream and flowers.

We hoofed it up the street, until we reached The Circle, which is a set of four large buildings that are set in a circle around the circular garden in the center.

To fully glory in my inner nerd, we went in search of the Jane Austen Centre, and we walked down Gay Street...

Until we found it!

The downstairs is a souvenir shop, where I was sorely tempted by a fancy fan or a frilly parasol, but we left empty-handed but for a picture with this nice chap who hangs about the door, greeting all Jane Austen fanatics. There is also a museum upstairs, but I couldn't do that to J, and I was satisfied with at least paying an homage to the centre.


Last on our itinerary was the Royal Crescent, which is another large building set in a semi-circle. The architects of Bath sure loved their curved buildings! Anyway, it's much too large to catch with my camera lens, and yet another park was set in front of the building and lots of people were relaxing out there with bbqs out in full force.

With everything ticked off my list, J and I began a slow wander around Bath, just enjoying the city as it is. It's quite small so you could cover the whole city in a day on foot quite easily.

We were pretty tired by the end of the day, and we decided to finish the day off with a Bath bun from a local tea shop.

The Bath bun is a pastry that's slightly sweet with currants and rock sugar loaded in the center that was created by a 18th century doctor to treat his overweight patients. The bun was considered relatively healthy back in the day, but the doctor's plan backfired when his overweight patients went nuts for the bun and didn't lose any weight at all! "Duh" seems to be appropriate here.

Overall, Bath was such a pretty city, and I have plans to return in September during the Jane Austen festival. Until then, Jane.