hi, i'm rick steves, back withmore of the best of europe. this time,we're in england, enjoying my two favorite citiesoutside of london -- bath and york. thanks for joining us. york feels more medieval,while bath is georgian. both towns go backto roman times. each town is packed withway more blockbuster sights than cities their size deserve.
and each are about two hoursby train from london. if you're lookingfor english city thrills without the expenseand intensity of london, head for bath and york --england's easy urban delights. in bath, we'll explorea roman hot springs, immerse ourselvesin georgian elegance, and cruise the canals. then we zip over to york, where we'll marvel at england's
finest gothic church, ramble york's wonderfullypreserved medieval quarter, meet the morris dancers,and lots more. the island of great britain includesengland, scotland, and wales. from london, bath isa short ride to the west, and yorkis just to the north. 250 years ago, bath was the trend-settinghollywood of britain.
if ever a town enjoyed lookingin the mirror, bath's the one. and its narcissism is justified. locals brag that they havemore "government-listed," or protected,historic buildings per capita than any other town in england. the entire city, builtof the creamy limestone called "bath stone," beams in its cover-girlcomplexion. an architectural chorus line,
it's a triumph ofthe 18th-century georgian style. proud locals remind visitors that the townis routinely banned from the "britain in bloom"contest to give other townsa chance to win. even with its mobsof tourists -- 2 million a year --bath is a joy to visit. good-looking towns are not rare, but few combine beautyand hospitality
as well as bath. visitors have been enjoying bathfor thousands of years. even before the romans arrivedin the 1st century, the place wasfamous for its hot springs. for the ancient romans,it was a popular spa town. the town's importance carried through the middle ages,when it was considered the religious capitalof britain. in 973, king edgar -- calledthe first king of england --
was crowned right here. later, bath prosperedas a wool town. with the money it made from wool, bath builtits grand abbey. this church --the last great medieval churchbuilt in england -- is 500 years old. the abbey's facade features a very literaljacob's ladder,
with angels going up... and down. the interior featuresbreezy fan vaulting and is lit with enough stained glassto earn it the nickname "lantern of the west." with its broad windowsand strong vertical lines, it's a fine exampleof late perpendicular gothic. bath's heyday passed,
and by the middle of the 1600s,its population had droppedto about 1,500 people -- just a huddle of hutsat the base of its abbey. its residentswere oblivious to the fact that their smelly mud was covering up the ruins of an ancient roman spa. then, in 1687, an english queenstruggling with infertility came here and bathed.
within about 10 months,she gave birth to a son. soon after that, queen annecame here to treat her gout. with all this royal interest, bath the spa townwas reborn. the revitalized townprospered as a resort. most of the buildings you'll seetoday are from the 18th century. local architects were inspiredby the italian architect andrea palladio, to build a "new rome."
the town boomed,and the streets were built not with scrawny sidewalks, but with broad "parades," upon whichgentlemen would stroll and womenin their stylish dresses could spreadtheir fashionable tails. this is the royal crescent. dating from the 1770s, these are the firstgeorgian condos.
"georgian" is britishfor "neoclassical." as you cruise the crescent, imagine you're oneof bath's upper crust. what appears to bea seamless front lawn is actually an optical trick. the hidden wall,called a "ha-ha" fence, keeps sheepand picnicking peasants out without creating an eyesore. the georgian house,at the prestigious address
"number one, royal crescent," gives an intimate peek into the lavish lifestylesof this age. volunteers in each roomare determined to fill you in on all the fascinating details. woman: georgian ladies wereextremely fashionable -- not fashions as we wouldthink of them today, because if they werevery fashionable women, they would wear the french wigs.
and they didn't startuntil this part of the head, so this hair herewas shaved off. that meant your eyebrowswere in the wrong place. they had to be shaved off, and then you had littlemouse-skin eyebrows stuck onfurther up the head. steves: and the kitchencame with all the latest georgian gizmos. so what isthis mechanism?
this is a turn-spit,powered by the dog. the dog was bredspecially for the wheel. he went in for two hours, and then another dogwould come in to replace him, until the joint of meatwas cooked. so he spins the meat? yes. and if he stops walking,what if he just says, "i'm goingto go on strike"?
well, first of all,prod him with sticks. and then, last resort -- shovel a coal in there -- hot coals, he runs. so a nice steak, you'vegot to thank your dog? yes, exactly. a block away is another fine bitof georgian architecture called "the circus." it feels like a colosseumturned inside out.
its doric, ionic, and corinthiancapital decorations pay homageto its classical inspiration. servants lived in attic rooms just belowthe characteristic chimneys -- one for each heated room. the ancient roman baths are the town'ssightseeing centerpiece. high society heregoes all the way back to roman times,when big shots
enjoyed the mineral springsat bath. from londinium, romans traveledto aquae sulis, as the city was called,to take a bath. eventually, the namebecame simply, bath. this ancient roman pool is stilllined with its original lead -- nine tons of it. you can almost imaginethose romans lounging around,sipping wine, schmoozing, just like they didin faraway rome.
today, a fine museumsurrounds the ancient bath. roman artifacts and the remainsof a temple pediment evoke a sophisticated city. the hot thermal waterstill bubbles -- as it hasfor nearly 2,000 years -- past ancientroman bricks. enjoy some quality time lookinginto the eyes of minerva, goddess of the hot springs.
after rome fellin the 5th century, these old pools silted up, and bath was forgotten as a spa. over a thousand years later, when those english queenscame here to soak and believed that its curativewaters actually helped them become pregnantand deal with their gout, word of its wonder watersspread, and bath was backon the aristocratic map.
high society soonturned the city into one big pleasure palace. the pump room,an elegant georgian salon just above the roman baths, offers the visitor's best chanceto raise a pinky in this neo-classical grandeur. drop by for a fancy,three-tiered afternoon tea... or just sipthe curative spa water. ok, so bath water?
yes, this is bath water. generally this has got about 43 different minerals in it. things like arsenic,bromide, calcium, lithium. it's made ofa lot of earth metals, very, very highmineral content. this water isabout 10,000 years old, comes to a temperatureof about 116â° fahrenheit,
so about 44â°celsius. and what does itdo for me? is it going to make melive forever? generally, it'll cure a numberof different illnesses, things likerheumatism, gout, if you're sufferingfrom impetigo, angina. so, mainly, it's --it's almost
a sort of painkiller,in a way. it tastes bad enoughto be healthy, i guess. cheers!thanks. above it all standsa statue of beau nash, bath's "master of ceremonies"in the 1700s. nash was a one-mantourism promotion department -- organizing the daily regimenof the aristocratic visitors, spiffing up the city,and banning swords. bath's relaxation themesurvives to this day.
its natural thermal spa is onceagain open to the public, and tranquil parks offera respite from the daily grind. here in the parade gardens,your modest admission fee entitles youto a rented lounge chair and a perfect chance to see how slowyou can get your pulse. bath's avon river offersmore excuses for relaxation. you can hop a little cruise. or, for more exercise, you canhike or bike along its canal.
these waterways were builtnot for lazy vacationers, but to ship coaland industrial cargo. the tow paths -- originallythe track for hard-working, barge-tugging horses -- are now popular for hikers,bikers, and dogs out walkingtheir masters. canal boaters enjoyan easygoing pace. their idyllic cruisesare punctuated by industrial-age locks.
with the help of these locks, laid-back vacationers can cruiseall over england. locks areself-service... and passersby arewelcome to help out. for the proper bath experience, i like to sleepin a fine georgian house. our hotel comeswith plush lounges, a bedroom that fits right inwith all the grand neoclassical architecturewe've been enjoying,
and an elegant breakfastthat can be very hearty... as well as very healthy. bath expertly entertainsits many visitors. free town walks are offered by the mayor's corpsof honorary guides. these volunteersbring the town's amazing georgian heritageto life. man:it's humanist architecture.
do you rememberthe leonardo drawing of the man whostands like this... and whatdo you get? you get a circle,and then you get a square and you get all sortsof geometry behind this. so what i'm saying is, the new townthat we've got in bath exploring this old classical, or reinventing this oldclassical architecture,
is what the newtown is about. steves:you don't need a guide to enjoy bath'smuseum of costume. it displays 400 yearsof fashion, one frilly decade at a time. with provided audio guidesdoing the tour guiding, you can track the evolutionof clothing styles right though the ages. in about 1600, gloveswere an important accessory --
made with white goat skin,lovingly embroidered, and designed to make your fingers look more elegant and slenderthan they really were. in the 1740s, aristocratic womenwore basket-like hoops to show off their fabulouslyexpensive and extravagantly embroideredcourt dresses. in the mid-1800s,women shaped their bodies with smaller "under structures."
those wide hoops evolvedto more discreet bustles. with the outbreakof world war ii, designers made dressesthat were chic, yet practical, stylish, yet simple. bath's museum of costumetakes you right up to today. bath was not allaristocratic splendor. there's a grittier sideto its history, as well. like the rest of england,
the story herein the 19th century was the industrial revolution. at the museum of bath at work, volunteers show offthe quirky business of the ingenious mr. bowler. this isthe heavy machine shop. dating all these machinesbetween about 1850, 1880. steam-driven. and with a setof machines like this,
there was virtuallyno engineering job that he couldn't tackle. people in the townhad a need, mr. bowler wouldtake care of it. absolutely. steves: and mr. bowlertook advantage of the local waters, too. he bottled his own fizzy water. right, this is where hebottled his mineral waters.
so soda pop was oneof his businesses? absolutely, yes. and it was filled on this rather ingenious machineyou see here. and all you did -- you rotated thataround... and there you go. wow! there you are.
mr. bowler'ssoda pop, 1875. that's right. bath is drenched in history. and a great way to learn absolutely nothing about that is to join the bizarrebath walk. each evening through the summer, local actors give visitors a goofy and immenselyentertaining
dose of street theater. man: well, we're goingto stop here for a second because...well,i'm exhausted, actually. it's the most walkingi've done for ages. and at this stagewe're going to prove that there is such a thingas mind reading. for those of youwho are telepathic, here's a quick joke for you,first of all. [ laughter ]
as this stage,i'm going to show you truly how to be acceptedas a local person here in bath. because this is a local bylaw, a local regulationthat states quite clearly that one has to hopacross this road. if local peoplesee you hopping across the road,they think you're a local personas well. and they smile at youvery warmly.
they really do. over, over you go. over you go, that's good. over you go. next we're headingfor the historic and equally entertainingtown of york, it's just a couple hours northby train. britain's trains are some of the most expensive per milein europe.
however, assuming you'reon a main line, they're fast, frequent,reliable, and comfortable. york offersa fascinating collection of great sights mixed with an easygoingpedestrian ambience, all lassoed withinits formidable wall. its rich history goes backto ancient roman times. this column is a scant reminder of when york wasa roman provincial capital --
the northernmost cityin the empire. constantine was actuallyproclaimed emperor right here in the year 306. later, in the 5th century,when rome was falling, the emperor sent a letterto britannia, as this part of the empirewas called, and he said, basically,"you're on your own." when rome pulled out,the barbarians moved in, and york became the capitalof an anglo-saxon kingdom.
the vikings later took the town, and from the 9ththrough the 11th centuries, it was a thriving danishtrading center called jorvik. then came the normans. medieval york grew richon the wool trade. with 9,000 inhabitants, it became england'ssecond city. henry viii used the city'sfine church, or minster, as his anglican church'snorthern capital.
the minster isthe pride of york. britain's largest gothic church brilliantly shows that the latemiddle ages were far from dark. the york minster is filledwith history and tradition. its grand bells have calledpeople to worship here for well over a thousand years. each day at noon the huge bellnicknamed "great peter" is rung from the church tower. at 10 tons, the bell canactually ring its ringer.
[ bell rings ] inside, your first impressionmight be the spaciousness and brightness. the nave, from about 1300, is one of the widestgothic naves in europe. on festival sundays, 4,000worshippers pack the place. the central tower soarsnearly 200 feet. the neck-saving mirror allowsyou to marvel at it comfortably. the church has moreoriginal medieval glass
than the rest of england'schurches combined. the east window is the sizeof a tennis court. the great west window hasexceptional stone tracery. with its nickname,"the heart of york," it represents the sacred heartof christ and reminds worshippersof his love for the world. the intricacy of the paintedand stained glass held together by leadis exquisite. the fine details, far too tinyto see from the floor,
are said to befor god's eyes only. the choir screen separatesthe nave from the choir. this ornate wallof carvings is lined with four centuriesof english kings, from william the conquerorto henry vi. while most of the facesare generic kings with the samescraggly beards, henry, during whose reignit was carved in 1461, is both genteel and engaged.
york's minsteris considered england's number-two anglican church,after canterbury. the anglican church came intoexistence about 500 years ago, born out of europe's longpower struggle between popes and kings. england's split with the vaticangoes back to king henry viii. henry wanted to divorce his wifeand marry his mistress. the pope said no. henry did anyway,and declared
that he, and not the pope, was the headof england's catholics. while henry considered himselfa faithful catholic, just not a roman catholic, his church of englandsoon embraced the essenceof the protestant reformation. canon jeremy fletcherexplains in a nutshell how anglicanism differsfrom roman catholicism. henry the viii's archbishopwas archbishop cranmer,
and he defined three pillarsfor the church of england -- scripture and reasonand tradition. the bible,our own human understanding, and the traditionof the church. and that'sthe great difference between the newchurch of england and the roman catholic churchthen, that the medievalroman catholic church was much less basedon the bible.
the church of englandis a reformation church. it's a protestant church. but the structures remained catholic ones as well, so it has both. we liketo describe ourselves as being catholicand reformed. steves: york's mighty wallis a reminder that the city was morethan a religious power.
it was a militaryand political center, vital for the controlof north england from roman timesthrough the middle ages. these ramparts,some of which sit on the remainsof the roman wall, are mostly medieval --14th and 15th century. each of the town gates washeavily fortified -- and i imagine pretty scaryif you were trying to break in. gaze up at the tower,imagining 10 archers
behind the cross-shapedarrow slits. keep an eye on those12th-century guards, with their stonesraised and primed to protect their town. today those walls seem only to protectthe half-timbered charm. ye olde downtown york --much of it as car-free todayas it was 500 years ago -- is filled with characteristicold buildings.
it feels madefor window-shopping, people-watching,and strolling. york's rich historygoes back much further. the ruins of st. mary's abbey -- once the wealthiest abbeyin north england -- are located in a lushand inviting park. in his fightwith the roman catholic church, henry viii saw the wealthymonasteries and convents as both a threat to his ruleand some easy money.
in what's calledthe dissolution, he dissolvedthe religious orders. he took their money anddestroyed their great buildings. the yorkshire museum -- actually built into the ruinsof the abbey -- tells the story of life herefor the monks, how all that ended,and much more. the ancient roman collectionincludes slice-of-life exhibits from cult figurines
to the skull of a man killed by a sword blowto the head -- making it graphically clear that the struggle betweenromans and barbarians was a violent one. this fine 8th-centuryanglo-saxon helmet shows a bit of barbarianrefinement. and those vikings -- they woresome pretty decent shoes and actually combed their hair.
the middleham jewel, an exquisitely etched15th-century pendant, is considered the finest pieceof gothic jewelry in britain. to the noble lady who wore thison a necklace, it both helped her worshipand protected her from illness. the back of it,which rested near her heart, shows the nativity. the front shows the holy trinitycrowned by a sapphire, which people believedgave your prayers
top priority with god. for a lively change of pace, look for the localmorris dancers, who boldly keep centuries of dancing tradition alive. mixing both paganand christian traditions, they're alwaysready to celebrate -- cheerleading the town through the return of spring,the harvest,
your mother's birthday...whatever. [ english folk music playing ] for somethinga little weightier, visit york'snational railway museum. showing two centuriesof british railroad history, it claims to bethe biggest and best railroad museum anywhere. fanning outfrom a grand roundhouse is a stunning array
of beautifully preservedhistoric trains. a steam engine is sliced open, showing cylinders, driving wheels, and smoke box,all in action. you'll trace the evolution ofsteam-powered transportation from very early trains like this 1830 stage coachon rails, with its crude steam engine, to the aerodynamic mallard,famous as the first train
to travelat two miles per minute, a marvel back in 1938. york has all these greathistoric trains because it's long been the hub of train transportationfor northern england. it still is today, and it's timefor us to travel on. i hope you enjoyed our look attwo great cities -- i'm rick steves. until next time,keep on traveling.
cheerio.