Oxford Memories

Hi everyone! Today I want to talk about a city which everyone has heard of, but not very many know the exact location of. I want to talk to you about Oxford, which thanks to its university is one of the most famous cities in England and one of the cities with the highest proportion of students in the country. I visited Oxford in 2010 during the summer I spent in Brighton, in the South of England, and one weekend we travelled a fair few kilometres northeast of there to spend the day in Oxford.

We went by bus to Oxford, and it took us two hours to get there via the London ring road. Oxford is a city with 150, 000 inhabitants, and isn't one of the biggest or most important cities in the United Kingdom in terms of population or economics, but it's definitely one of the best-known due to the university to which it gives its name, the University of Oxford. The university has around 23, 000 students, making the city's student population very high in comparison to other inhabitants. Because of this, it can be said that Oxford is a city full of young people, with a clear university atmosphere. I presume you already know about the rivalry between this university and city and of course the other most renowned city and university in England, the University of Cambridge.

Let's concentrate though on all the things there are to see and do in Oxford, where I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time if you visit. I'll list all the things I saw and did when I visited the city in summer 2010, and will try and include where we entered the buildings and everything that we did there. Off we go!

The Radcliffe Camera

This is one of the many buildings owned by the University of Oxford, and in this case, one of the most central in the city. It current functions as a library for the university students, and tourists aren't allowed to go in. Despite this, it's worth taking a walk around it and enjoying the view of this beautiful building and of the gardens around it. It's an interesting feature of the city and generally demonstrates the architectural style of Oxford very well.

The Bodleian Library

We'll continue on with the theme of libraries. Due to the amount of students, the university possesses many books and information sources for studying, and of course, before the invention of the internet, all this information had to be stored somewhere. The Bodleian Library is one of the most important libraries in England and in Europe. It's located a few metres away from the already mentioned Radcliffe Camera. The Camera was once an extension of the Bodleian, but has now become a separate building entirely. The Bodleian has appeared in many films, such as Harry Potter for example, and although it's not as striking as the Radcliffe Camera, it's just as individual-looking and interesting: especially the front door, on which all the crests of the different Oxford colleges are displayed.

University Church of St Mary the Virgin

The University Church of St Mary the Virgin is one of the most important churches in the city. It can be found, again, near to the Bodleian Library and to the Radcliffe Camera, on the High Street. Its facade will be familiar to many, as it is referred to and appears on many tourist pamphlets and postcards of the city. The church is open to the public and free to enter Monday to Sunday from 9am until 5pm. Something which really caught my eye inside the church was the gargoyles who 'watch over' the church's interior and ensure that all is as it should be.

Carfax Tower

Carfax Tower can be found at the crossroads between Cornmarket Street and Queen Street. I remember where it is so well since the meeting point for all those who had come to Oxford from Brighton that day was right outside it, and this was where we met in the afternoon before we got the bus back. The tower itself isn't very eye-catching, but the surrounding buildings and the street its on mean that the area is a must-see in Oxford. It's a place where the university properly begins to merge with the town, and is a chaos of tourists, pedestrians, bikes and cars...Cornmarket Street is pedestrian only, and beyond this street and Carfax Tower there are lots of shops, fast food restaurants and cafés, making it the most commercial part of the city. There are two indoor shopping centres nearby. The tower is also a good meeting place (not that we used it for this) since it can be seen from quite far away and is connected to the main streets which structure the city, most importantly the High Street. I also remember that at the bottom of Carfax Tower there was one of those typically British red telephone boxes, which people are always taking photos with and you have to queue next to in order to take one yourself.

Magdalen Tower

More towers! Carfax Tower isn't the only notable tower in the city. If you follow the High Street until you reach the River Cherwell, you'll come across Magdalen Chapel and the Magdalen Tower before you cross the bridge. It's more impressive than Carfax Tower, but is further away from the city centre, meaning that it's less frequently visited and there aren't so many people crowding around it. This being so, Magdalen tower is another one of the significant parts of the city.

Tom Tower

Located next to St Aldates and in front of large green lawn, a cement pathway leading through it and in the middle a small fountain. Tom Tower serves as a tower and a gateway, since on the other side (just behind the entrance), the building of Christ Church College and Christ Church Cathedral can be found.

Christ Church Picture Gallery

This art gallery is located at the south end of the High Street, and is another one of the buildings where parts of Harry Potter were filmed. The building is surrounded by large, green gardens, and is very near to the large Christ Church college (which we also visited that day). It's quite worth going to see, and there is no entrance fee, which always helps!

The Sheldonian Theatre

Further north from the High Street, the Sheldonian Theatre can be found among some of the most important colleges in the city. The rear can be seen from Broad Street, but the main facade, the most striking feature of this theatre, is found on a little square belonging to the university. Around this square, there are posters and adverts attached to boards advertising concerts in the Sheldonian Theatre, so I presume it's also a concert hall.

Oxford Castle

Much further away from the city centre is Oxford Castle, on the West side of the city. The truth is that it's not one of the best castles I've ever seen, but it's still quite impressive. The castle dates back to the medieval period, so you can imagine the grimness of its design. To get there, it's best to take the bus, since walking will take you quite a long time. In terms of whether you should go in or not, I recommend that you do, despite the 10 pounds it costs to do so (I imagine that the price is more or less still the same). It's something you'll only get to see once in your life, so take advantage of your visit to the city. The castle is open from 10pm to 2pm or 3pm, and if you bring your student ID card with you, you'll pay less to get in. You can also go on a guided tour of the castle (which we did), and by doing this you'll find out much more about the history of this almost 1, 000-year-old ancient building.

Oxford Museum of Natural History

Of all the museums in the city, I think the most interesting and the one I personally liked the most was the Museum of Natural History. It's located on St Parks Road, one of the streets which runs through the area where lots of Oxford colleges can be found. It's also very close to the city centre. It's also free to enter, like many museums in the UK. The museum opens at 10am and closes at 5pm, and I remember that when we went just after lunchtime it was packed full of people (and it was also the weekend). It's definitely worth visiting to look at some of the many collections the museums offers (the facade and building itself aren't anything to shout about). The most interesting of everything on display there was, for me, the incredibly well-preserved fossils and archaeological findings. This is definitely a must-see in Oxford.

Blenheim Palace

This palace is a bit like the Versailles of Oxford. It's located on the outskirts of the city and you have to take a bus or drive to get there, since it's too far to walk to. You can visit the palace as well as the parks which surround it, but there is an entrance fee and on top of how out of the way the palace is from Oxford, you will need to pay about 10 pounds for a day ticket (about 12 euros). We got there via the bus which would take us back to Brighton, and made a stop there on our way back as the entrance tickets had been paid for as part of the weekend. In my opinion though, for a tourist going without having booked anything in advance, the visit in itself could cost up to 20 pounds for transport and entrance tickets. Due to this, I don't think it's worth visiting the palace unless you're spending more than one day in Oxford. Interestingly, some of the Harry Potter film franchise was also filmed in Blenheim Palace (as is the case with lots of locations in Oxford city).

Cornmarket Street

I've already mentioned this street, but it's worth a section of its own since it's definitely the most recognizable street for the mountains of tourists who visit the city. It's a pedestrian only street which is very commercial, with lots of shops and surrounded by other smaller streets which lead to this one and which are similarly full of little businesses. At its end is Carfax Tower, where it meets with the High Street. I remember that the houses and buildings on this street looked very old, but this could have also been a new architectural style aimed to fit in with the rest of Oxford. On this mythical Oxford street, the oldest building in the city can be found: the Saxon Tower of St Michael at the North Gate.

The Saxon Tower of St Michael at the North Gate

Although it's not the most impressive of the city's towers or buildings, the Saxon Tower is the oldest of them all, meaning that we had to spend at least a few minutes of our trip admiring it. I remember we discovered a shop in a street adjacent to Cornmarket Street and near to the Saxon Tower which sold t-shirts with all the different Oxford college crests on them, and also the typical 'University of Oxford' sweaters which you can buy for every university in the world. My Italian flatmate Simone De Richeli and I bought a t-shirt each in exactly the same style as the ones we had at home. There were lots of shops like this around here selling t-shirts, sweaters, hats, scarves... and of course magnets and gadgets aimed to grab tourists' and visitors' attention (above all foreigners'! ).

Oxford Covered Market

Next to Cornmarket, there's also a covered market which above all sells food. On the Saturday we were there, I remember that there were lots of people in the inside 'streets' and at the different market stalls. It's not the typical open-topped market I know you're all imagining, but more like an inside collection of local independent shops selling various types of food... everything is very expensive too, to make money from the university tourists. Although it's slightly stressful inside, it's well worth seeing, and is also free to enter (for the moment! ).

Also worth mentioning are the different colleges in the city centre which belong to one of the most important universities in the world in this magnificent city. I don't remember exactly every single college we visited, or how many, or even which exact ones they were, but I remember two or three names of colleges which I'll tell you about now.

St Peter's College

It's neither the biggest nor the grandest college in the city, but since it's next to Bonn Square, it's easily reachable from the city centre. Part of the college is an ancient church and I think I remember being told that some of the student bedrooms are actually inside this part.

Christ Church College

Next to Christ Church Cathedral, this is one of the best known colleges in the city and of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. To reach it, follow the street south of Carfax Tower, St Aldates, and pass through the gateway of Tom Tower.

Trinity College

Trinity College is situated in the very centre of the city on Broad Street, which joins onto Cornmarket Street. It's one of the best-known colleges, and if you've visited London or Dublin, the name will sound familiar to you. The word trinity here refers to the Holy Trinity, and it's of course normal that several universities in different British cities use this name.

Its design is similar to almost all the Oxford colleges, with a large garden facing the main entrance and a building which, in this case, seemed to me to be more modern than some of the other colleges'.

Balliol College

The name of this college perhaps sounds a little different to that of 'Trinity' and 'Christ Church', and it sounded strange to us too, but the main reason we visited it is because it's right next to Trinity College. They are both in the same street and very similar, with Bailliol being closer to Cornmarket with an interior garden and with a facade worth taking a few photos of.

When it was time for lunch, we stopped to eat in front of another college, but one which we didn't go into since we wanted to follow a different route and we thought seeing the front of it was enough. We sat on Merton Field opposite Merton College, a huge lawn next to the River Cherwell. Our pack-up consisted of rolls we'd brought with us from Brighton, since buying nice food at an affordable price for students in the UK is quite hard. Because of this, almost every time we went on a day trip, we'd take a few rolls with us and eat them sat somewhere like we did here.

I don't know what else to tell you about Oxford apart from that it's a great city which has lots to see and where practically every street and building is like a little outdoor work of art. It's a history and architecture museum in itself when you walk through its streets, and even if you don't know the name of every building or don't know the meaning of one of the coats of arms, remember that it could have been the house or place of learning of one of history's greatest philosophers, economists, engineers or inventors, or the coat of arms these same famous names worse on their uniform or clothes on college party days (which definitely existed and which definitely still exist now! ). I hope you've enjoyed my post and that you'll think about this entry when you visit Oxford yourself one day.

Bye for now!

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