AWAKE: City of Spires

A couple of weeks ago saw my first ever visit to Oxford, and whilst it took me a ridiculously long time to discover this gorgeous city, I'm hoping it won't be too long until my next visit. Whilst planning for my whistle-stop visit, I was unsure how much I would be able to fit in, but upon arriving found that Oxford is delightfully compact. Seeing as how everything I wanted to see was easily within a 20 minute walk of the city centre, I'm pleased with how much of the city I saw, and yet I'm still left wanting more. Here are the highlights of my visit...

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The Ashmolean Museum

I didn't actually want to visit too many museums, for fear of being 'cultured out', however I couldn't resist a visit to the Ashmolean when walking past. It's worth noting that this place is huge, and a whole day could easily be spent devoted to digesting collections spread across 5 floors. To make the best use of my time however, I hot-footed it to the art collections on the upper floors and particularly enjoyed the Pissarro Gallery (which houses multiple works by Pissarro, with a Monet and Van Gogh to boot!), as well as the Dutch art collection. I'm hoping to visit again in the future just to take in all the history housed there!

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Bodleian Library

The Bodleian Library is one of Oxford's infamous landmarks, so naturally was high up on my to-see list. The building really doesn't disappoint, and although there are several tours that take you around a lot of the library, I just settled for a visit to the Divinity School (arguably the most recognisable part of the library). The room was simply stunning, and I could clearly see why they chose to film some interior shots for Harry Potter there!

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The Indoor Market

After a lot of sightseeing, a trip to the indoor market provided some light relief, and was a lovely mix of local produce and higher end items. It also houses a lot of cafes and bakeries, so was the perfect stop for a midday snack.

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Carfax Tower

A trip up Carfax Tower was recommended to me by a previous resident of Oxford, and whilst walking up 99 narrow steps in a spiral staircase didn't sound the most appealing thing, I was told that the view was really worth it. And believe me, it was! Whilst walking around Oxford I was always constantly amazed at the buildings, and the view from the top of Carfax Tower gave me the chance to actually see the city as a whole.

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Christ Church

You can't go to Oxford without a visit to at least one University, right? We chose to go to Christ Church, simply because it seemed to be the closest one to where we were at the time, and also knowing little about the many different University Colleges meant that we weren't fussy as to which we saw! So I can't say anything about any of the other colleges, but Christ Church was absolutely beautiful, and steeped in history. Just with the Ashmolean, I felt that I could have easily spent the whole day at Christ Church! I was really surprised upon arrival to find that it was surrounded by miles of park land, which would have been perfect for a picnic if we weren't on a tight schedule, but again, it was the interior which really shone. There were many different tours available, but it was also a joy to just ramble around at your own pace.

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TL;DR: History! Art! Ceilings! HARRY POTTER!

This was a super long post, so thanks for sticking it out to the end (I decided to post a lot of pictures here to save on a lot of Instaspam!!). I'm also planning my next visit, so I'm really all ears for Oxford recommendations. Or for that matter, anywhere you'd recommend in the UK (I've really got local wanderlust at the moment!)!