Traveling in good old England is simply impossible to ignore one of its most famous sights and one of the most interesting places in the world - Stonehenge. The stones of Stonehenge attract the attention of millions with their grandeur and riddles, because there is still no clear answer as to who, when and why Stonehenge was built. But first things first.
Stonehenge: how to get from London?
Where is Stonehenge? As you know, Stonehenge, this stone wonder of the world, is located in the county of Wiltshire, near Salisbury, about 130 km from London. Variants, how to get from the English capital to the famous stones, a few:
- The easiest way is for 40-50 pounds to buy a ticket for a guided tour in London in London.
- Use the bus to get from the Central London Bus Station to Salisbury, where you can change to a shuttle bus going to Stonehenge, or you can drive to the village of Amesbury and walk the rest of the way. The cost of any of these options will be about 20 pounds.
- You can get to Salisbury by train, departing from the Central Station. The cost of the ticket in this case is 25 pounds.
- Take off on a rented car. We should go south-west from London, bypassing Southampton and Salisbury, following the signs. Pass will have about 180 km, spending about 10 pounds on gasoline and 30-60 pounds on car rental.
- Take advantage of taxi services - this option is the most expensive and will cost an average of 250 pounds.
Stonehenge: interesting facts
1. Almost 30 years ago, in 1986, Stonehenge was awarded the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a historical monument.
2. There is Stonehenge from:
- 30 stone blocks weighing 25 tons each;
- 82 megaliths weighing 5 tons each;
- 5 triliths weighing up to 50 tons each.
3. Stonehenge is not the only stone ring on the territory of Britain, there were found about 900 of them. But they are all much smaller in size.
4. The history of Stonehenge counts more than one thousand years. Until now, scientists have not come to a consensus on the question of who and why collected huge blocks of stone in a circle. The most popular version says that the Druids have put their hand to it. But it is now being refuted, because the Druids came to the British lands not earlier than 500 AD, and Stonehenge dates from at least 2000 BC. During the whole period of its existence Stonehenge was repeatedly reconstructed, modified, changed its purpose.
5. Stones for the construction of Stonehenge were delivered from a distance of 380 km.
6. The construction of Stonehenge was attended by at least 1,000 people, while at the same time employing about 30 million hours. The grandiose construction took place in several stages and stretched in time for 2 thousand years.
7. Along with several fantastic versions that prescribe Stonehenge's function as a landing pad for alien spaceships or a portal to other dimensions, there are two basic theories that see a burial mound or a primitive church in it.
8. Stonehenge is the first known place for burial of cremated remains in Europe - it's exactly such functions that it began to perform several hundred years after its construction.
9. The remains and coins found in the ground near Stonehenge date back to the 7th century BC.
10. The modern, known to many from photographs, the view Stonehenge acquired only in the 20th century. Before that, many stones lay on the ground, overgrown with grass. Works on the reconstruction of Stonehenge were actively conducted in the 20-60 years of the last century, causing great indignation among many scientists who considered the reconstruction of the stone monument as a real vandalism.