Bristol: Part One

Yesterday was my first trip to a city since the start of lockdown!

It was quite exciting to go to Bristol after five months of only visiting towns, villages and countryside areas. I've been there many times before, as it's the nearest big city, and I have family there. But I'd never gone and properly seen the sights up until now, even though it's a place with many attractions.

Bristol isn't known for being a beautiful city like Bath or Oxford, but it's certainly a very interesting city with a long history. Sadly, it is known for its links to the slave trade. However, now it's a very diverse and progressive place, and it was recently in the news for the historic moment when anti-racism protesters pushed the statue of a slave trader into the harbour, during the Black Lives Matter protests.  

Bristol is also renown for its green credentials, having been consistently voted as the most sustainable city in Britain and among the most environmentally friendly in Europe. 

And of course, it's famous for its street art, being the home of the mysterious Banksy as well as many other artists.

Bristol covers a very big area, and it's pretty much impossible to see all its sights in just one visit. So I plan to go back soon, hopefully during my boyfriend's visit to England, and explore more then. For this reason, I've called this post "Bristol: Part One", like I've done with my London posts.

The main attraction my parents and I visited yesterday was Christmas Steps, a quaint, historic street. I guess it's kind of the Bristolian equivalent of The Shambles street in York, but a lot less crowded! It must look really nice at night in the winter, when the fairy lights are lit up.

Near to Christmas Steps, we found Foster's Almshouses and the Chapel of the Three Kings of Cologne. A lot of the building was covered with scaffolding, but it was still a very nice place to look at.

We all needed to get some shopping done, so afterwards we went to Cabot Circus, a very big and modern shopping mall that was opened in 2008. It reminded me a lot of the Parque Arauco mall in the Las Condes area of Santiago.

Both yesterday and on other occasions when we've been driving around Bristol , I've seen some interesting places from the car, such as the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge...

...and the SS Great Britain.

The M32 is also a surprisingly great place for sightseeing! I've always loved seeing Shal Jahal Jame Mosque, which reminds me of the palace from Aladdin.

Another building I love seeing is The Dower House, better known as The Yellow Castle! My parents and I would like to stop there someday for a walk.

Yesterday evening I showed the pictures to my boyfriend, and he said he'd love to visit Bristol with me! The photos reminded him of Germany, the United States, Chile, India, and of course England. That's one of the things I like most about Bristol; it has so many different places and attractions that are inspired by or are reminiscent of other places from all over the world. It's truly a global city, and I'm really looking forward to going back!

Read about Bristol: Part Two here!