Bristol's Waterways and the SS Great Britain

Bristol, in southwest England, has been a major British trading port for centuries and the leading slaving port in the mid-1800s. Nowadays it’s home to Banksy, a thriving alternative/creative economy (the Bristol pound), and a strong streak of independence.

With less than 24 hours in Bristol, I chose to focus on the docklands and wended my way to the dockyard where the SS Great Britain launched in 1843.

Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the SS Great Britain was the first iron-hulled, propeller-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. The ship travelled over 1 million miles to New York and later Australia before being abandoned in the Falkland Islands.

Now completely restored, the SS Great Britain can be viewed from below the waterline to observe how it was constructed.

A walk through the ship is eerily realistic – the cow on deck moos, you can hear people coughing and smell sweat in steerage. There’s a bloody basin of water beside the woman who has just given birth and the smell of medicine in quarantine. History brought back to life.

I took the harbour ferry from the museum back to downtown Bristol. The juxtaposition of centuries-old warehouses and modern condominiums is mesmerizing.

I truly believe I'm destined to live in The Cheese Warehouse).

There are houseboats and restaurant boats, old bridges, and wonderful new pedestrian ones that curve their way across the water.

Brunel was appointed chief engineer for the Great Western Railway when he was only 27. Bristol Temple Meads train station, several viaducts, and a major tunnel that he designed are still in use today.