Do you miss Christmas already? Do you miss all the twinkling, glittering lights that embellish every street and square? If the answer is yes, let me take you back to the atmosphere of our trip to Bath, one of the amazing events organised by the ESN Southampton committee. But before that... here you have a bit of history for the ones that have never heard of Bath before. Bath is a small city near Bristol that derives its name from the presence of natural hot springs (the only one in UK!), which convinced the Romans to build a settlement near them... so if you like the ancient times you can't miss visiting the Roman Baths, a museum full of archaeological remains such as coins and architectural elements. Bear in mind to visit the stunning bath house too, in which you can still see the open-air rooftop pool with the natural thermal water in which the ancients used to relax.

But now let's go back to the trip... as I told you we went there in December, the time when the city metamorphoses itself and becomes a huge Christmas market: you cannot even imagine the variety and good-quality of the handcrafted objects that you can find there. I reckon they are the perfect idea for an original  and unusual present! Let's not forget about the street food: from hamburgers to soups, from chestnuts to gulash, there is everything you can desire. As far as drinking is concerned, don't miss out on tasting the traditional mulled wine! And if it's a sunny day (I know, this means you're quite lucky!) you can chill out in one of the many parks around Bath.I personally recommend you the Royal Victoria.

Add to this a beautiful Abbey, long walks, street musicians, entertainers and of course the presence of many friends whom to share this beautiful atmosphere with and the recipe for a perfect, Christmas-style day trip is complete!

One precious tip if you go there on a weekend: make sure you have lunch a bit earlier and don't expect to be able to eat in a restaurant if you haven't booked it in advance. Otherwise, you will spend all the day wandering around the city looking for a place to eat and losing the best bits of the trip!

 

Written by Giacomo Alessandri

Giacomo is an engineering student from Italy. He likes going out for a beer and meeting new people. He is passionate about horses, football and tennis (both playing and watching!). Unfortunately his Erasmus experience is coming to an end this January, but he will never forget that "Once Erasmus, ALWAYS Erasmus"!