Visiting Stonehenge and Avebury, England. One of the world's most magical and mysterious places, Stonehenge, in the southwest of England, is nearly 5000 years old.
And there are still many questions about what it was used for. Although it's believed that for 1500 years people were worshiping their gods here and most likely using it as an astronomical calendar that marked the arrival of the summer and winter seasons. Stonehenge was created so long ago that the culture that built it left no written record.
So there are many mysteries, which of course is part of the magnetic charm of this monumental site. What was it for? Who built it? And, when was it in use? Another reason the site is so interesting is just the physical beauty of the stones and their elegant arrangement in concentric circles of standing stones, some of them connected at the top by horizontal lintels, and the massive size of these rocks that were carried here from far away.
This tour was organized for us by MadMax tours, a company operating out of the city of Bath. And the itinerary also includes a visit to Avebury, which has the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world.
The stones at Avebury are not as big as those at Stonehenge. And also they are not carved into shape. These are natural rocks that were just hacked out of a quarry and dragged here. The total impression is one of the vast size and great beauty.
The circle is about 1200 feet in diameter, and while many of the original stones have been plundered and looted, they're gone. From the late medieval and early modern periods, centuries ago, people destroyed many of the standing stones and reused them for construction purposes. We still have enough left to show the original significance of the amazing site.