Christmas has just gone, which means that this 2017 is near the end. When it comes to the end of the year we feel excited about the future, but also kind of exhausted by all the previous eleven months.
Recently I have been treating myself to Bath, as a real Jane Austen’s heroine. I spent two days in the lovely British town, hanging between tearooms and spa. Doesn’t sound like bad at all, right?
Here I’ll make a quick compilation of the best places to treat yourself during a short visit to Bath:
The Roman Baths
Just in front of the cathedral, there is a 19th-century building that hides a Roman public bathing, which is nowadays a museum. Walking through its sacred springs, temple and the bathhouse I could really picture how the ancient Roman people could live and entertain back at that time, a feeling that I honestly had only in Pompei.
It takes a couple of hours to visit the whole site, which is made even more interesting by the numerous modifications and interventions that have been made on the building since the 12th-century until 1889.
At the end of the visit, there is the chance to try the natural hot water, and I can tell you this: once you try it, the only thing you can do is heading to the nearest spa!
Thermae Bath Spa
After visiting the numerous museum in the city and walking all over the picturesque streets of Bath, there is only one thing to do: relax. I chose for this purpose the Thermae Bath Spa, which is just 5 minutes walk from the Roman Bath Museum.
When I travelled to Bath I wasn´t prepared for such an experience. I had packed my bag with jumpers, hats, scarfs and all sort of things to keep me warm in the British winter. I had nothing even similar to a swimsuit! I entered into every store in the city center, desperately seeking any kind of swimwear item, but I couldn’t find anything useful. Suddenly I told myself, “well, someone else must have had the same problem before. If I ask at the reception they´ll probably know where I could buy one!”. So I went to the spa, cued for about 10-15 minutes at the entrance, booked a 2 hours ticket for 35£ and finally buy the long waited swimsuit at the spa shop.
Unfortunately, due to some personal health issues, I couldn´t try the saunas and the ice room, so I spent one whole hour in the hot waters of the Minerva Bath… I wish I could go back there right now!
I can totally recommend this place as it´s very well organized and after my visit my skin was so smooth and regenerated and I felt so good and relaxed that I could only sleep, and it was the best nap of my life!
Jane Austen Centre
Bath must be considered a pilgrimage site for all literature lovers. Not only because Austen set two of her novels here, and she spent much time in the city during her life. Beside Austen herself, many other writers have mentioned Bath in their stories. For instance, during my travel, I read Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, which sees its characters passing by Bath few times along the book.
Knowing that my sister is a huge fan of Austen and that there is a little museum about her, I thought to pay it a visit. Mainly to buy a freaky present for my sister.
The museum is very little, and you need to know quite a bit about Austen’s books and characters to truly appreciate it. It takes about one hour to explore it, and at the beginning of your visit, you can enjoy a short talk by the museum’s staff about the writer’s life.
The real treasure of the Jane Austen Centre is the Regency Tea Room on the top floor. Its elegant atmosphere makes you feel like you are jumping back at the Regency time when crinoline and corsets were everyday things.
Here I had one of the most tasteful tea I have ever tried, and the first real teacakes of my life!
This is not just my opinion as it has been awarded by the Tea Guild Award of Excellence.
Sally Lunn’s Buns
Enjoying the teatime is the best activity you can do during your visit in Bath. Especially because there is a real foodie temple in town: the Sally Lunn´s Historic Eating House.
This exquisite cafe has been serving its delicious buns for 300 years, using their unique and secret recipe which makes their buns completely different from the ones we are used to eating.
Here you can try their numerous buns combinations, sweet or savoury. I have to recommendations for you, both of them sweet: a toasted bun served with their special cinnamon butter or served with what they claim to be the best lemon curd you could have, which I confirm, indeed, to be probably the best.
Enjoy!
Freaky Foody 