Trip to Stonehenge.. the Mystery stones and feeling the magic

Stonehenge... one of the most mystical places in England. It is also called as the eighth wonder of the world. Although there are mixed reviews on the internet, but I will certainly recommend anyone visiting London to definitely put this in the itinerary. This is one of the worlds most iconic archaeological sites and one of its greatest mysteries.
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There are countless theories on who built this mega structure and what purpose did it serve 5000 years back. Our ancestors did not leave any record about this. The Sandstones weigh 25 tonne each which come from Ireland and the BlueStones come from Whales. Around this monument there are vast plain green lands - so no one knows how the ancient humans brought such heavy stones from far away lands.

http://www.bootsandbutter.com/
Our guide told us lot of folk stories associated with this place. One of them was that this place had a specific electromagnetic radiation due to which this was a healing place, people who were terminally sick came here for treatment. The other story was the around Stonehenge, scientists have discovered lot of skeletons buried under the earth, so the folk story goes that people who were about to die were sent here for spending their final moments of life.

There is another story which says that this place has astrological significance. The shadow of the sun on the heel stone is the longest on the solstice days (longest day and night of the year).

My Feeling : 

The one reason why Stonehenge inspired me was the vibration of that place. It is breathtaking and very pleasant to be in presence of these majestic stones. It really seems as if this place has some magical energy in it which is very empowering.

When you reach here, you will need to show your ticket at the tourist office from where you will take a 15 minutes bus ride to the site. We were given an audio guide with each ticket so that we could hear the story of Stonehenge. There is a small fence surrounding the stones, so we cannot go really up-close to touch them. However, I heard that there is another tour at off-hours which allows you to go up close and touch the magnificent stone structures.

There is also a small shop at the tourist center which sells souvenirs. I purchased bottles of Stonehenge wine from here - there were different flavors such as Ginger wine and Plum wine which I had never tasted before and these costed me around 10 GBP each. Totally love it.
http://www.bootsandbutter.com/

How to reach: 

I did a lot of research if I can go here on my own using public transport. There are ways to reach here but it is not very time-friendly.
The closest train station is Salisbury. There are trains which run regularly from London Waterloo station to Salisbury station which is 09 miles from Stonehenge. From here you need to take a Stonehenge Tour bus. There is no public transport and this is a private tour bus. I found some information here for reaching Stonehenge independently.

I however, compared the cost of going on my own v/s the cost of booking a guided tour to Stonehenge and they were almost the same. So I decided to take a tour from London to Stonehenge from internet. My tour operator was Premium tours and I booked it from London toolkit site as there were some discounts available.

Cost of Ticket from London Waterloo to Salisbury : 25 GBP (on some saver tickets)
Bus ticket from Salisbury to Stonehenge : 15 GBP
Entry ticket for Stonehenge: 17.50 GBP
Tour price from London to Stonehenge on internet which includes the ticket: Around 50 GBP
http://www.bootsandbutter.com/

Hence I preferred to go by tour operator - All of them start from Victoria Bus Coach Station and are very particular about time. So please be few minutes early else you might miss the bus.

I had actually taken the tour which included Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge - so it was a bit rushed in one day. Also we couldn't cover Bath due to traffic congestion and lost precious time sitting in the bus.

All in all, I really really enjoyed Stonehenge and I would definitely recommend everyone to visit here at-least once in a lifetime. I will write more about my London trip in future blogs.
P.S : All images in this blog are original and clicked by me using my Nikon DSLR :)

Some good links to read more about Stonehenge :
Stonehenge on National Geographic
English Heritage site - Stonehenge
Stonehenge on Wiki
http://www.bootsandbutter.com/
http://www.bootsandbutter.com/

Here was a my Full Trip schedule -
London --> Manchester --> Lake District --> Edinburgh --> Scottish Highlands --> Isle of Skye --> London --> Stonehenge --> Back to India

Some more blogs from this trip that I have written :






20 comments

  1. Beautiful images. Some people who have been there described it as a bit underwhelming but you images show it as a beautiful place

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    1. Thanks Sunil.. Yes I agree, even my friends had not given great reviews.. but personally I loved it!!

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  2. Beautiful clicks and 1st time I heard about this place. Thanks for sharing..

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    1. Thanks dear!! I am glad that you liked the blog!!

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  3. Oh wow, that is a bucketlist place to go for sure! At least its on my buckellist of place to visit before you end up in one place :P
    Ann

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    1. Thanks Ann for visiting my blog!! Yeah it is indeed one of the best places I have been to near London and is a must-visit site!

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  4. Trip to Stonehenge is always on my wishlist as to explore these mysterious stones must be interesting thing to do. Your tour operator looks worth and I would also try Premium tours. Thanks for sharing all tips and tour operator details.

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  5. Awesome captures. I always thought about those stones and surly visit that place soon.

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  6. Very beautiful pictures and these cute pictures remind me of my tour to Andaman as I went there with my family by booking the best Andaman Tour Packages

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  7. Lovely travel inputs and amazing eye for detail. Don't know whom to credit the camera or the photographer. Stonehenge has a lot of unknown history yet to be uncovered and that adds to its mystics and magic. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it.

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  8. I also wanted to tell you that your pictures are beautiful and can confidently say that I am still waiting for more shots taken by you!

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