London is the capital of the United Kingdom and the main city of England, one of the most important and interesting cities in Europe. The most famous sights and the best museums are concentrated here. Worth visiting Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, British Museum, Tate Gallery, National Art Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum of Decorative Arts, Madame Tussauds, Sherlock Holmes Museum. And this is not a complete list of what you can see in London. Greenwich is located 10 km south of London., famous for the fact that the zero meridian passes through it. On the hill through which it passes, the Royal Observatory is built, where a rich collection of ancient astronomical instruments is kept. Even in the city, you can see many old buildings and visit interesting museums, such as the National Maritime Museum and the Queen’s House. Windsor is located 37 km west of London.. For almost nine centuries, Windsor Castle has been the main country residence of the English royal house. It rises majestically over the Thames, adorned with towers, battlements and bay windows. The history of the castle has its roots in the distant past, in the XI century, to the reign of William the Conqueror. In this place, on a hill above the Thames, he built a wooden fortress in order to control the western road to London.. In the following centuries, the fortress was rebuilt in stone. Further construction transformations took place in the XIII – XIV centuries. However, the outer contours and the main structures of the castle have successfully survived all stages of construction work. The castle has two courtyards – Upper and Lower. In the northern part of the Upper Court, there are halls for state receptions, available for visiting during the absence of the queen. They are used for official receptions of distinguished guests and are richly decorated with paintings, antique furniture and other artistic and historical treasures, such as the battle armor of Henry VIII. Here you can also see the bullet that ended the life of the famous naval commander Nelson. The main attraction of the Lower Court is the chapel of St. George. The ashes of the English kings rest here, as well as various shrines, 1.5 hours drive from London is the most mysterious monument in the UK – Stonehenge. The meaning and purpose of Stonehenge remains a mystery to this day. Many hypotheses have been put forward on this score, from the most primitive to the completely unbelievable. Inigo Jones, an English architect of the 17th century, compared this building with examples of ancient architecture and argued that it was a Roman temple. And in our days, the idea has been put forward more than once that aliens had a hand in these stones. Several phases of construction are clearly visible in Stonehenge’s past, some separated from each other by more than one millennium. The earliest stage of construction dates from around 3100 BC. Stonehenge is a majestic stone ring formed by huge hewn blocks of gray sandstone, covered with stone slabs on top. The constructive principles by which it was created are neither primitive nor accidental, for the arrangement of the stones unequivocally reveals an understanding of the laws of perspective. Nowadays, Stonehenge turns into an object of mass pilgrimage for tourists at the time of the summer solstice, since the main axis of the entire structure does not point northeast, exactly where the Sun rises on the longest days. This fact strengthens the conjectures about the mystical significance of the monument.
35 km from Stonehenge there is another monument of primitive times, a large stone circle in Avebury, which is considered the largest of such structures on our planet. According to modern estimates, this construction, which consisted of two circles, consisted of 274 stone blocks, and another 97 pairs of the same blocks bordered the road leading to it. The blocks were erected around 2600 BC, but bear traces of earlier cult activities. Brighton is located 70 km north of London. It houses the Royal Pavilion., which was the residence of King George IV on the coast. It is one of the most exotic looking buildings in the UK. Originally a farmhouse, the house was rebuilt into a neo-classical villa in 1787 by the architect Henry Holland and then styled as an Indian palace by John Nash in the 1820s. The palace was sold to the city by Queen Victoria in 1850. Domes and minarets dominate the appearance of the pavilion, inside there is a huge banquet hall with an impressive chandelier in the center, there is also a music room with lamps hanging from the domed ceiling. The palace is located in a garden and is richly decorated in Chinese and English style. Canterbury Cathedral is located in Canterbury. The cathedral is a masterpiece of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, inside you can see stained glass windows of the 12th century and the medieval tombs of Kings Henry IV and Edward the Black Prince, as well as several archbishops.
Warwick Castle, due to its size, picturesque location and turbulent history, is one of the most popular tourist sites in the UK.. Built in 914 on a hilltop, the fortification that protected the local settlement from Danish raids was later completed by William the Conqueror in 1068 and was finally turned into a fortified castle until 1485 by King Richard III. Today in the castle you can see the dungeons, living quarters and towers. The island, located in the middle of the River Avon, hosts costumed performances in summer, in which jesters and archers demonstrate their skills, as well as demonstration medieval battles and tournaments.
According to Ezinesports, Leeds Castle in Kent is located on two islands in the lake. It was originally built in 857 as a royal estate, but from 1278 it was used by King Edward I as the Royal Palace. In subsequent centuries, the castle became the residence of 6 medieval queens. England and King Henry VIII. Therefore, it is literally filled with art objects of those times that are well preserved. In 1926 the castle was sold to Lady Bailly, who refurbished the interior with fine furniture, tapestries and paintings. The castle is also famous for its aviary, which contains many rare and exotic bird species, including black swans and parrots; garden labyrinth with hedges and surrounding beautiful gardens and vineyards.
York, located in the central part of England, is one of the most beautiful cities in England and in the whole of Great Britain. generally. A trip to York is an opportunity to get in touch with the Middle Ages. In 71 AD in its place was a Roman military fortress, which over time turned into a city. The Middle Ages is the heyday of York, when it was a major economic center of England, second only to London in importance.. In the era of the Normans, powerful fortifications were erected here, which have survived to this day. Cliffords Fortress is famous for the fact that one of its towers is the only fragment laid by William the Conqueror. From the top of the fortress there is a magnificent view of the city with its medieval houses and numerous streets. The old city wall, built in the 14th century, stretches for 4.8 km along York. and includes the remains of Roman fortifications. Four city gates from that era have come down to us, the oldest of which is Monk Bar.
The city’s main attraction is York Minster Cathedral.. The construction of the Cathedral began in 1070 and lasted four centuries, so its appearance combines different styles. Another masterpiece of antiquity is the octagonal Chapter, the pride of which is a wooden ceiling that does not have supports. In the interior, colorful stained-glass windows leave the strongest impression. York has many museums of various kinds. This is a museum in the gates of Minklegate Bar, which tells about the life of the guards; Museum of the history of the city, which presents exhibits of the Roman and Anglo-Saxon eras, as well as the Viking and Middle Ages; Art Gallery, which contains works by English artists, as well as famous painters of Italy and Northern Europe; National Railway Museum; Viking Museum; house-museum of the sisters-writers Charlotte, Emilia and Anna Bronte.
Bath is near Bristol. Built of golden stone, this city has been a favorite vacation spot for royal families and other titled persons of high society since the 18th century. Bath has long been famous for its hot springs. The Romans, great lovers of medicinal waters, set up a resort here. The baths of the 1st – 4th centuries have survived to our time. In Bath, the Abbey Church of the 16th century, built in the style of “perpendicular” Gothic, is interesting. Under Elizabeth I, it began to be called the “Lantern of England” in honor of the famous huge stained-glass windows dedicated to the life of Christ. You should also visit the Art Museum, which presents paintings by Gainsborough, Reynolds, Italian Renaissance bronzes, a collection of faience, gold and silver utensils, a costume museum with ancient and modern clothes. Each year, one suit is selected for the museum to be the symbol of the fashion of the year.
Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare, attracts a lot of tourists, but despite this, it remains a cozy and quiet city. On the window panes of the small room where the great poet was born, visitors in the old days carved their names. This is how the autographs of Walter Scott and the historian Thomas Carlyle have been preserved. By purchasing a ticket, you can also visit the exhibition of costumes for television screenings of Shakespeare’s plays on the BBC.
Even in England it is worth visiting Birmingham, Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford.
The Lake District National Park is located in England.. This place, where mountains, numerous lakes and green valleys are combined, is very picturesque, but for this reason it attracts a very large number of tourists. The largest lake in the park is Lake Windermere. It has a length of 17 km and a depth of up to 61 meters. Cruises are organised.
25 kilometers from Bristol, near the town of Cheddar, where the cheese of the same name is made, there are Caves and Cheddar Gorge. The Cheddar Caves have been attracting tourists for over 200 years. The largest and most famous cave in the complex is Gough’s Cave, named after Captain Richard Gough, who discovered it in 1890. It has a length of 400 meters underground and is often referred to as the “cathedral”, because of the vast spaces, such as the “Diamond Chamber” (Diamond Chamber) or “Solomon’s Palace” (Solomon’s Temple), which were washed with melt water back in ice age over a million years ago. When the cave was blown up for further study, archaeologists discovered the oldest fully preserved ancient human skeleton ever found in the UK., who was called “Cheddar Man” (Cheddar Man). Its age is estimated at about 9 thousand years. Among other archaeological finds in this area, one can note the remains of human habitation over 40 thousand years old.
The maximum height of the largest British gorge Cheddar is 113 meters, from the caves to the top, where the Observation Tower is located, there is a staircase of 274 steps. Here you can also do speleology, mountaineering and descent from the top of the gorge on ropes.
