Visiting the Roman and Medieval Baths was an incredible

experience.  What used to be called Aquae Sulis after the

goddess of the original inhabitants, before the Romans, became

known as Bath to Ancient Romans who travelled often

from Londinium, to take a bath in the mineral springs and 

offer a sacrifices at the temple to the goddess Minerva.

A museum surrounds the baths now, and is filled w/ancient

artifacts. You're able to see the entrance to the temple and

the baths themselves, where the sacrifices were made. The

structure around the baths are the same as when the Romans

built them. The water is greenish now, but then it was clear

due to some engineering marvel I can't quite remember the

details on!

In the photos you'll see a greenish pool filled w/coins,that is 

the source, or what they called the sacred springs. One of the 

exhibits I loved was of tiny, oval-shaped precious stones, with 

minuscule etchings on them, that they believe were probably from 

signet rings.  Bathers might have lost them while bathing 

and hundreds of them were found in the drains during 

excavations.  The only remaining part of the statue of Minerva, 

covered in gold, is her head. It looks as if the head was cut off

the statue w/a blade and the theory is, it's the work of

Christian conquerors who took a sword to it.  I don't have 

a problem w/that! The mineral springs themselves have 

been in and out of use over the centuries and had a huge 

resurgence during the Georgian days of Bath.  The new 

Thermae Bath Spa opened a few years ago and Marisa 

and I got a chance to visit.  Terry had to leave on an earlier 

train back to London after lunch, so we were on our own 

the rest of the day, including the train ride home, which 

turned out to be exciting :) We thought the Spa was nice.

They have every conceivable kind of spa treatment and

massage to take advantage of, but darn, we were short 

on time and couldn't! The water in the pools was warm 

but not as hot as I would have liked. There are two pools, 

one indoor and a roof top outdoor pool. It was cool and 

breezy outside that day and we'd had a fair amount of rain, 

so I wasn't up for trying it. Marisa was the brave one, however 

and said it was alot warmer than the indoor pool.  If you've ever 

been to the Sol Duc Hot Springs in the Olympic Nat'l Forest,

(or sat in the hot springs at Murrietta), Thermae just doesn't 

compare. It was very relaxing tho and the mineral water 

very soothing. The changing rooms are co-ed, which is a very 

European thing, but a little unsettling for us! After we'd changed,

it was time to rush off to the train station and head back to

London.