STONEHENGE

A mecca for tourism, history, heritage and mystery, Stonehenge is on the bucket list of many visitors to the UK. It is surely Europe's best-known prehistoric monument. Immortalized in literature and film on numerous occasions, it is a Unesco World Heritage Site that still holds all its secrets. Indeed, there are still many questions as to why these enormous monoliths were placed there in the first place, and what techniques were used to move them. Recent renovations have seen the grassing over of a road that had spoiled the site's charm, and the construction of a new on-site museum that will tell you all you need to know about the site. While you can't get within 5 metres of the stones to ensure their preservation, you can admire them from the path around them and soak up their mystical beauty. Immerse yourself in this atmosphere and step back in time to the Neolithic era with the help of the excellent commentary on the audio guide, which will take you around the stones following the different orientations of the sun. A timeless experience.

Don't forget to book your visit online to guarantee admission. A shuttle bus from the modern visitor center can take you to the stone circle, 2 km away. Alternatively, you can take a walk and soak up the sights.

The site's history dates back some 5,000 years. Stonehenge was a Neolithic place of worship and burial, consisting of a ditch and an embankment. 4,000 years ago, the bluestones were brought down from the mountains of south-west Wales, and 500 years later, they were installed at the center of the circle of standing stones we see today, which originate from the Malborough Downs, some 30 km away. The site may have become a Druidic ceremonial place, but its origins are Celtic.

When the Celtic people, of Indo-European origins, arrived in Europe in the first millennium BC, Stonehenge was already abandoned. The Greek writer Ephoros describes the Celtic people as one of the four most remarkable barbarian civilizations, along with the Libyans, Persians and Scythians.

Reputed to be curious, intellectual, creative and resistant to any organized system, they undermined all the states of antiquity, without ever creating one themselves. Their favorite literary form was poetry, transmitted orally.

A must on this site: come on a solstice day when the sun is aligned with the axis of the megaliths.