Day Trip to St Albans: Exploring Roman History and The Oldest British Pub

A few months ago, Aaron and I got a history lesson in a London black cab. The cabbie was a huge history buff; he loved it and his enthusiasm was contagious. We pulled over outside our flat, he stopped the meter and then proceeded to give us a list of places that we should go because they are full of history. St Albans was one of those places.

This past Saturday, we took the a bus to the tube to the train and headed out about 19 miles north to explore the old Roman town. The city was named after the first British Christian martyr, Saint Alban, but it actually was called Verulamium during Roman times (good luck pronouncing that!).

During this period, it was the second largest Roman town in Britain and it is the only place that you can see evidence of a Roman theater in Britain (see bottom, top left photo). They have a pretty substantial museum next to the theater that has artifacts, human remains and information from this era. We found that another familiar town we have visited, Colchester, was also referenced in the museum.

After visiting the theater and museum, we took a stroll through a gorgeous park that's just nearby. We couldn't believe how many people were there! It had lots of ponds and there were so many ducks, swans, geese... really every bird imaginable.

We made our way through the park to Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, Britain's oldest pub according to Guinness. A pub in that location dates back to the 8th century, but the half-timbered structure that you see now was built in the 11th century. Aaron could barely stand up because the roof was so low; he had to stand in between the beams : )

There's a lot of dispute about which pub is the oldest in Britain, but it was certainly the oldest that we've ever had a pint at... cheers!