Our excursions into history led us from the New Stone Age to the younger past. Visiting the area of course is impossible without a trip to the famous stone circle of Stonehenge. We followed the lot of tourists and let the automatic travel guide tell us a lot of interesting things while walking around the area.

There is another stone circle, much larger though less known. It’s the one in Avebury, it also belongs to the world cultural heritage of the UNESCO. The area meanwhile is partly covered with buildings, the stone circle leads through the middle of the small town. You are allowed to walk around everywhere freely. Our tip here: Cream tea in the Avebury café – yummy!

Portsmouth

One excursion into a totally different part of history led us to Portsmouth. Here the „Historic Dockyard“ offers a rich cut-out of the glorious past of the seafaring nation England. The spectrum ranges from the Mary Rose, a tudor ship, to Lord Nelsons famous HMS Victory to the HMS Warrior of 1860, the first armed war vessel with iron hull that could besides the sails also be powered by steam. A walk through the two last-mentioned offers a fascinating impression of the then life at sea – nothing for claustrophobians!

I was especially impressed of the Mary Rose. In 1982 a live show on TV reported how the ship was raised with immense effort. Of course after such a long time under water it is not the complete ship that could have been salvaged. They still found large parts of the outer hull and also parts of the interior in one piece. To protect the wreck from total destruction it was installed inside a large hall and is now constantly sprayed at with water. You cannot go too close, just watch everything from behind windows. Nevertheless it is a great experience. Further information about the Mary Rose you may find here: https://www.maryrose.org/