A traveller's reflection: 2017 UK Trip: 28 Stonehenge, England

My Travel Journal

"There isn't much I haven't shared with you along the road and through it all there'd always be tomorrow's episode" - Elton John

I started traveling around the world since early 80s when I had the opportunity to combine business trips with vacations. Then later when my rezeki is in abundance, there were numerous other trips along the way for vacations, most of the time with hubby and the kids when the timing is right. I have also started to compile the journal and photo-pages covering almost more than 45 years of world wide travel. Some destinations I visited just once, others many times. Many of those places are the obvious famous places people would like to visit but some, the casual traveler doesn't even think to try. I have placed links to my travel at the side bar of my personal page, My Life Reflections, and will be updating them from time to time.

My wish is to continue my travel and complete circumnavigate the globe, insyaAllah…

Thursday, 25 May 2017

2017 UK Trip: 28 Stonehenge, England - The monument of Neolithic ancestors...

“The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands...” - Sir Richard Burton

(One of the most photographed attractions)

Date: 17 May 2017 (Wednesday)

Route: Midsomer Norton – Stonehenge

Distance: 35 miles (53 min)

I have always wanted to visit Stonehenge when I visited the UK but time was always not permitting. So this morning after visiting the small town of Midsomer Norton we drove direct to the Stonehenge site and bought tickets to visit one of archaeological mysteries.

(An hour drive from historic town of Bath)

(One of the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites)

(Best times to visit are early or late in the day)

(A bus to shuttle visitors to the historical site)

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, 2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 miles north of Salisbury. Stonehenge consists of ring of standing stones, with each standing stone around 4.1 metres high, 2.1 metres wide and weighing around 25 tons. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.

(A lone crow welcoming us to the Stonehenge)

(As impressive as it looks in pictures)

(Capturing a pre-historic engineering of a sacred place)

(We had Stonehenge all to ourselves)

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC. The entrance fee is £18/pax.

(Presence of burial mounds around Stonehenge)

(More exhibitions at the Visitor Centre)

(Soaked to the skin at the end of the visit)

(Stonehenge site preserved for future generations)

Archaeologists recreated five Neolithic huts that may have been used by Neolithic man at the time that Stonehenge was built. These Neolithic Houses are furnished with replica Neolithic axes and pottery. These artefacts reveal the type of homes that the builders of the ancient monument might have lived in four and half thousand years ago.