Today we have two major stops planned to finish up our Roman Pass. But before both we want to visit the Barbara Baths right next to our AirBnB, they are free and close and we want to see if they changed significantly since last time. The entrance is different than we remember and for certain the signs about it being a Unesco World Heritage Site weren’t there but otherwise we feel that not a lot has changed.
The ruins, this time at least, are not accessible. You can see them from above or from the sides but you cannot walk among them. We cannot remember how it was way back but this time the ruins are not reachable by visitors.
We enjoy the ruins, while they are not impressive they are free which is a bonus. The Barbara Baths were built in the second half of the 2nd century C.E. along with a burst of building activity including a new bridge, an amphitheater and large forum as the city was prepared to be the capital of this section of the Roman Empire.
There is a nice solid metal walkway crossing over the ruins and we decide to walk over it and see all the remaining ruins. At least this early in the morning the metal is not hot yet, maybe they should have used a different material?
Some of the ruins are protected from the elements with metal roofs and the descriptions are also quite good allowing us to get an idea of what we are looking at.
To our surprise as we reach the other end of the walkway we notice people in the ruins but then it seems that they are just trimming the weeds which makes more sense.
And then from one bath, Barbara Bath, we make our way to another bath, Emperor Bath, both Roman but in different stages of preservation. Again we follow the old walls and pass by another of the preserved towers, this one looks like it is forever smiling.
There are some interesting houses to see as we pass through the park, likely many of them were built when the wall was still here or right after it was torn down. And then after a short walk through the Prince Elector Gardens we reach the Emperor Baths, our fourth free entry using the Roman Pass.
