South and west of Gloucester, the distinctive burr that is typical of West Country speech is immediately audible in BRISTOL . Alongside it, however, you will also hear the more strident tones of fast money and big business which in recent years have combined to re-energize the city's old commercial traditions. New technology, the arts and a vibrant youth culture have also helped to make this one of Britain's most cutting-edge cities, in the process generating some of the best nightlife in the southwest.
Weaving through its centre, the River Avon forms part of a system of waterways that made Bristol a great inland port, in later years booming on the transatlantic trafficking of such goods as rum, tobacco and slaves. In the nineteenth century the illustrious Isambard Kingdom Brunel laid the foundations of a tradition of engineering, creating two of Bristol's greatest monuments - the SS Great Britain and the lofty Clifton Suspension Bridge. More recently, spin-offs from the aerospace industry have given the city a high profile in the fields of communications, computing, design and finance. Beneath the prosperous surface, however, Bristol has its negative aspects - one of England's highest homeless populations, some of the most notorious housing estates and the highest proportion of cars to inhabitants. Nonetheless, it remains an attractive city, predominantly hilly, and surrounded by rolling countryside.
The City
A good place to start exploring, the Centre was once an extension of the port but is now the traffic-ridden nucleus of the city, with cars swirling round the statues of Edmund Burke, MP for Bristol from 1774 to 1780, and local benefactor Edward Colston. The Centre is only a few minutes' walk from the cathedral and the oldest quarter of town, and linked by ferry to the sights around the Floating Harbour, the waterway network that runs through the southern part of town and connects with the River Avon. You could cover Bristol's other central attractions on foot without too much sweat, but it's worth using the bus network for more distant sights, especially in the hilly Clifton district. |
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