Places of interest in Great Britain

Places of interest in Great Britain

The British Isles are two large islands - Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and Ireland (the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland).
There are many interesting places in UK besides its capital London. The English countryside is full of peaceful harbour-towns with fishing boats, yachts, cottages and the English like to spend their holidays here. Resorts such as Brighton, Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Blackpool, Sunderland or Scarborough have fine sandy beaches and a nice atmosphere. Southampton – Titanic sailed from here.
 
England
One of the most popular tourist attraction is Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. The top attraction is the house in Henley Street where Shakespeare was born. In the Holy Trinity Church we can see the Shakespeare’s grave. In Holy Trinity Church you can see the grave of Shakespeare, his wife and other members of his family. Not far there is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre where the Shakepeare’s plays have been played. There are 1600 hotel rooms in Stratford. There is one hotel whose rooms haven’t numbers but names of Shakespeare’s plays. So you can sleep in Hamlet’s room or in Romeo and Juliet’s room. Interesting are Oxford and Cambridge which are well-known for one of the most prestige and oldest universities. These towns are sometimes called together Oxbridge. There is very famous bridge over the river called Bridge of Sighs in Cambridge. It is wooden. There are no screws or nails.

Kurssi englannin punta (GBP) - Yhdistynyt kuningaskunta
 
Southern part of England is full of historical monuments.
Canterbury is an ancient city with a majestic cathedral. It is the seat of the Archbishop. Canterbury Tales based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s classic are big attraction. You can join pilgrims on their way from London to Canterbury and listen to their stories, which are spoken by famous speakers. You listen to strange sounds and smell different smells. The other old cathedral town is Winchester, which once was the capital of England.
Very spectacular place is Stonehenge, where are the very old prehistoric megalithic monuments, which are more than 3000 years old. The ruins stand in the centre of a huge circle 98 m in diameter. The ruins consist of two stone circles and a horseshoes.In the centre there is an Altar Stone. It is situated on Salisbury Plain. The purpose of this construction is unknown but it may be ritual sanctuary probably used like an astronomical calendar.
 
The West Country has its own character, different from the north and the south. The country is still unspoiled by industry. The only larger towns here are Bristol, Plymouth, Bath and Exeter. Plymouth has a proud maritime heritage. From this place in 1588 Sir Francis Drake set out to attack the Spanish Armada. The Pilgrim Fathers sailed from here to America. Bath is the most famous spa in England. Romans built it.The springs have curative purposes. Natural springs are nearly 50 degrees hot. Devon is the region of wild moors. The area became famous through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Exeter is the starting point for Dartmoor-the moorland. In this country there are many national parks for example Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks. On the north is Birmingham it is at the geographical heart of England and is the secont largest city in Britain. We can see Victorian architecture here and the network of canals.
 
Northwest is mainly an industrial area. In the past these are the places where the industrial revolution mainly developed – especially textile and coal-mining industries. It is sometimes called the „Black Country“.
In Manchester we can visit the Museum of Science and Industry and Space Museum. Liverpool is second largest port in GB. It is famous for industry, football, horses and Beatles. Liver was a magic bird and it is a symbol of Liverpool. It is called the city of the Beatles. There is the Beatles museum and the Beatles club. (Everything is made for tourists.) Beatles Story- you can go through whole history of Beatles, you listen to their songs and learn about their lives. There is very old Liverpool Cathedral. Liverpool Cathedral is the largest cathedral in Britain. The other big cities here are Leeds, Sheffield and York.

Hastings is world famous place in British history. There took place the Battle of Hastings, where William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon king Harold (1066). There are St Clement’s Caves where is a very popular tourist attraction, which is called Smuggler’s Adventure. You can see there how smugglers lived. (There are figures of smugglers and you can press buttons to get information about their lives, work and so on.). It is built because there were about 70 000 smugglers in Hastings in the 17th (18th) century. The houses and pubs in the Old Town concealed secret passages where the smugglers hid from the law. There is Sea life Centre in Hastings as well where you can see e.g. sharks, fish, seahorses, octopuses, conger eels, rays, crabs, starfish and so on. In the centre of Coventry there stands a statue of Lady Godiva who lived in 11th century. (She rode naked on the horse)
Hadrian’s Wall is a remain of the Roman fortifications built between 122-26 AD to protect England against the Celtic’s invasion.
 
Wales is to the west of England. The land lot Wales is full of mystery and beauty. There are snow-capped mountains, green valleys, sea resorts, big cities and little seaside towns. The Welsh are very proud of their language and culture. Welsh is one of the oldest living languages in Europe. (It is the Celtic language like Scottish and Irish Gaelic.) It is spoken by 20 per cent of the population. King Edward I. started the tradition that the oldest son of the English King has the title „Prince of Wales“. St. David is the patron saint of Wales. The symbols are a leek and a daffodil.

Cardiff, Newport and Swansea are the biggest industrial cities. Cardiff has been the official capital of Wales since 1955. One of the biggest power-stations in the world is being built in the heart of Welsh mountain. (It uses the water of a large mountain lake to produce electricity.) There is the village with the longest name in the world in Wales. (Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndro-bwllllantysiliogogogoch – 58 letters)
Wales is sometimes called the land of castles, because North Wales has several impressive castles. Among the best known are Caernarfon, where Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales in 1969, and Harlech which stand on rocky cliffs overlooking the mountains of Snowdonia National
City of Bangor is a coastal city with unique character and landscape – it has its own mountain. There is the Bible Garden with a unique collection of some plants named in the Bible. There is an annual competition in Wales, called eisteddfod. People recite poetry, sing and dance.
 
Scotland is a historically and culturally separate country from England. It has its own legal and educational systems and currency (the value is the same but banknotes have different design). Scotland is the land of many special traditions which cannot be found elsewhere in the world – playing the pipes, wearing kilts made of tartan and for Scotch whisky. The biggest city is Glasgow, an old Victorian town, the cultural centre and the heart of the arts in Scotland (festivals the Mayfest and the International Jazz Festival). The city has also some of the finest museums and galleries in Europe. The city has also some of the finest museums and galleries in Europe.

The next city is Edinburg. It is dominated by its imposing 12th century castle-Holyroodhouse. Through the heart of the city the cobble Royal Mile runs. The city is full of attractive squares, three-line avenues and elegant shopping centres like Princess Street. The North of the country is a large and magnificent lake and mountais area. The biggest lake is Loch Lomond (lakes are called lochs in Scotland) and Loch Ness is famous for its „Loch Ness Monster“.