A small trip and a big pleasure - Stonehenge & Bath/Mali izlet i veliko zadovoljstvo - Stonehenge i Bath

A few weeks ago, my Macedonian friend Lolita, suggested that we go on a trip with an agency from Cambridge to see Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is a monument located about three hours by car from Cambridge, while the city of Bath is slightly further away. I was somewhat sceptical at the very beginning because the ticket price of £129 seemed too high for the ride itself and the entrance fee to the monument. I mainly agreed to the trip for my friend. However, as the time of the trip approached, I became more and more cheerful and began to look forward to finally seeing this prehistoric monument that you hear about everywhere. Actually, I am not proud of the fact that I visited Stonehenge for the first time now, after almost 23 years of living in England.

What is it about and what kind of monument is it? During the trip we heard a lot from our driver, who is also a tourist guide. So, it is a prehistoric monument built in several phases, and it is assumed that construction began in 3000 BC, which means that it is about 5000 years old. It consists of two circles of stone pillars and in the outer circle there are pillars 4 meters high and 2.1 meters wide, each weighing 25 tons. There are numerous theories that follow scientific research on how people of that time could and knew how to build such a monument, where the builders came from and where they lived. The structure and composition of the stone reveal that the stones are not from that area but from distant Wales, so it is not clear by what route and method the stones were transported to their final location in the province of Wiltshire.

The monument is impressive, and I am not surprised by the large number of visitors who pass through Stonehenge every day. You cannot touch the monument itself, or you cannot get very close to it unless you pay a special out-of-hours high-ticket price of £70.

After Stonehenge, we headed to the town with the cute name “Bath,” which means “bath.” The name comes from the baths built by the Romans in 70 AD. Even today, there is a Roman bath in the centre of Bath, which my friend and I did not see on this occasion. It was very hot the day of our visit, and first we sat in a pub and enjoyed some fish and chips. With our guide, we had a walking tour of Bath, from which we learned that it is a beautiful town that we want to come back to again.

I am very happy I was on that wonderful trip, where the places we visited are beautiful, but the ride is also super pleasant. I recommend the company Roots to all my friends for one-day trips around England. I can’t wait to go somewhere again.

Kristina

Sunday, July 20^th, 2025

Mali izlet i veliko zadovoljstvo - Stonehenge i Bath

Pred nekoliko tjedana mi je moja prijateljica, Makedonka Lolita, predložila da idemo na izlet sa jednom agencijom iz Cambridgea vidjeti Stonehenge spomenik i gradić Bath. Stonehenge je nekih tri sata vožnje autom udaljen od Cambridgea dok je obližnji Bath nešto dalje. Nekako sam bila skeptična na samom početku jer mi se cijena karte od £129 činila previsoka za samu vožnju i ulaznicu za spomenik. Ipak, pristala sam na put više da udovoljim prijateljici. Međutim kako je vrijeme puta primicalo postala sam sve veselija i počela sam se radovati što ću konačno vidjeti taj prehistorijski spomenik o kojem se svugdje može čuti. Zapravo ne ponosim se činjenicom da sam Stonehenge prvi put posjetila sada, nakon gotovo 23 godine života u Engleskoj.

O čemu se tu radi i o kakvom je spomeniku riječ? Tokom puta puno smo čuli od našeg vozača koji je ujedno i turistički vodič. Dakle radi se o preistorijskom spomeniku građenom u nekoliko faza, a pretpostavlja se da je gradnja počela 3000 BC što znači da je oko 5000 godina star. Sastoji se od dva kruga kamenih stupova i u vanjskom su krugu stupovi visoki 4 i široki 2.1 metar, a teški po 25 tona svaki. Postoje brojne teorije koje slijede znanstvena istraživanja kako su ljudi tog doba mogli i znali izgraditi takav spomenik, od kuda su graditelji došli, odnosno gdje su živjeli i slično. Struktura i sastav kamena otkrivaju da kamenje nije iz tog kraja nego iz udaljenog Walesa pa nije jasno kojim putem i načinom je kamenje dopremljeno na konačnu lokaciju u pokrajini Wiltshire.  Spomenik je impozantan i ne čudi me veliki broj posjetitelja koji svakodnevno prođe kroz Stonehedge. Sam spomenik ne možete dotaknuti, odnosno ne možete prići mu skroz blizu osim ako ne platite specijalno visoku cijenu karte od £70.

Nakon Stonehenga uputili smo se prema gradiću simpatičnog naziva “Bath” što znači “kupka”. Ime dolazi od kupki koji su 70AD izgradili Rimljani. I danas se u centru Batha nalazi rimska kupka koju moja prijateljica i ja ovom prilikom nismo vidjele izbliza. Bilo je jako vruće tog dana našeg obilaska Batha i mi smo sjele u prvi pub i uživale u miru u pohanom bakalaru sa krumpirićima. Uz našeg vodiča imali smo turu šetnje po Bathu iz koje smo ponajprije naučile da se radi o prekrasnom gradiću u koji želimo ponovo doći.

Jako sam sretna što sam bila na tom divnom izletu na kojem su mjesta koja smo posjetili predivna, ali i vožnja je super ugodna. Preporučam svim svojim prijateljima agenciju Roots za jednodnevene izlete po Engleskoj. Ja jedva čekam da ponovo idem nekamo.

Kristina

Nedelja, 20. srpnja 2025.