3 Days in Bristol — Essential Highlights

SS Great Britain (£19.50 — the most important single ship in maritime history): launched July 19 1843 at the Great Western Dock in Bristol. Three simultaneous world firsts in a single vessel: (1) the first ocean-going vessel built of iron (replacing wood as the structural material for ocean-going ships for the first time in navigation history), (2) the first propeller-driven ocean-going vessel (the most important marine engineering innovation since the stern rudder (13th century): the screw propeller is the most efficient water propulsion device ever designed), (3) the first steam-powered regular Atlantic passenger service (the Bristol-New York route: the most important maritime trade route in the 19th century). Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859 — the most important engineer in British history). Made every previous ocean-going vessel obsolete overnight. The dry dock museum: the ship preserved in her original 1843 Great Western Dock, with the glass "sea" (a dehumidified chamber at <25% humidity preventing the iron hull from rusting) — the most technically innovative museum conservation system in the world.

Clifton Suspension Bridge (free for pedestrians — the most celebrated suspension bridge in the UK): designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1831, completed posthumously in 1864 (Brunel died September 15 1859, five years before his most celebrated project was finished). The 214m main span: the longest suspension bridge span in the world when designed in 1831. The 75m height above the River Avon at high tide. The 76m tower height: the most elegantly proportioned suspension bridge towers in engineering history. The Avon Gorge: the most dramatic natural gorge in southern England — the 75m-deep Carboniferous limestone gorge carved by the River Avon through the Mendip Hills (the most important karst limestone landscape in southern England). The most beautiful suspension bridge in engineering history by the most universal expert consensus.

Clifton Village (the most architecturally significant neighbourhood in Bristol): the Georgian and Regency terraces (the most important concentration of Georgian domestic architecture in England outside Bath — Bath (13km from Bristol) was the fashionable neighbouring city of Bristol where the merchant families came to take the mineral waters). The Royal York Crescent (the most impressive Regency residential crescent in Bristol — the longest residential crescent in England: 136m, 46 identical Regency houses on the south-facing hillside above the Avon Gorge, the most dramatic residential outlook in Bristol). The Clifton Arcade (the 1904 covered arcade: the ornate Victorian iron-and-glass roof — the most important Victorian retail architecture in Bristol). The Clifton Observatory: the telescope observatory + the "Giant's Cave" (the natural limestone cave beneath the Observatory on the Clifton Down, accessed by a 90m ladder descent — the most spectacular underground viewpoint in Bristol).

West Country dinner (Clifton Village restaurants — Whiteladies Road: the most important restaurant street in Bristol): the beef Wellington (the most important British dinner party dish: the beef tenderloin ("fillet") coated in duxelles (finely chopped mushroom + shallot + garlic + thyme paste) + pâté, wrapped in puff pastry and baked — the most dramatic British dinner party centrepiece). With Somerset cider: the Thatcher's Gold (the most commercially important Bristol-area cider brand) or the Orchard Pig (the most artisanal) — the Somerset "scrumpy" (the rough, cloudy, tannic farmhouse cider: the most authentic cider of the English West Country, the area with the highest per-capita cider consumption in the world). The West Country cheese board: Cheddar (the original Cheddar cave cheese from Cheddar Gorge, 25km from Bristol), Dorset Blue Vinny (the most endangered traditional British cheese — from Dorset), and the Ticklemore Goat (Devon).

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (free — the most important museum in the southwest of England): the Egyptian mummies (the most important Egyptian collection in the southwest of England: the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 BCE) and New Kingdom (1550–1070 BCE) mummies). The Thecodontosaurus antiquus (the "socket-tooth lizard" — 230 million years old: discovered in a Clifton quarry in 1834: the 4th dinosaur scientifically described in Britain (after the Megalosaurus (1824), the Iguanodon (1825) and the Hylaeosaurus (1833)): the most important dinosaur discovered in the Bristol urban area). The 2009 "Banksy vs Bristol Museum" unauthorized exhibition: 300,000 visitors in 12 weeks — the most attended temporary exhibition in Bristol Museum history and the most commercially successful street artist exhibition in UK history.

St. Nicholas Market lunch (established 1743 — the longest continuously operating food market in Bristol, open for 283 consecutive years): the most diverse street food in the southwest of England. The Ethiopian injera (the sourdough fermented teff flatbread — both plate and utensil for the "wots" (the Ethiopian stews)). The Jamaican jerk chicken (marinated 24–48 hours in Scotch bonnet + allspice + thyme + ginger + soy + brown sugar, then slow-cooked over the pimento wood fire — the most authentic jerk preparation in Bristol). The Vietnamese pho (the 8–12-hour beef bone broth + rice noodles + raw beef slices cooked by the hot broth + beansprouts + fresh basil + lime + hoisin). The Wednesday and Friday antiques market: the most important antiques market in the southwest. £6–12 per person.

Stokes Croft walk (the "Montmartre of Bristol" — the most concentrated street art district in the UK): the murals, stencils, paste-ups and installations of the most important British street artists cover every available wall surface. Banksy (the most famous — the "Mild Mild West" teddy bear + Molotov cocktail on the corner). Inkie (one of the most important Bristol-born graffiti artists: co-founder of the "3D Wild Style" movement — the most important influence on Bristol street art in the 1980s). Nick Walker (the most technically accomplished Bristol street artist: the "Vandal" stencil series is the most commercially successful non-Banksy Bristol street art). Eine (the East London-based "shutter alphabet" artist: the painted roller shutters with individual letter stencils — the most important alphabet in UK street art). The PRSC (People's Republic of Stokes Croft): the most important community arts organization in Bristol.

Farewell Bristol craft beer evening (the most important craft beer city in the UK outside London — the highest craft brewery density per capita in England outside London): the Small Bar (the most important craft beer bar in Bristol: 100+ rotating taps with the most comprehensive craft beer selection in the southwest). The Left Handed Giant Brewing Co. (the most important Bristol craft brewery: the "Left Handed Giant" Session IPA (the most popular craft beer in Bristol) and the Stout (the most awarded Bristol stout)). The Wiper & True (the most celebrated Bristol craft brewery: the "Kaleidoscope" pale ale (the most complex dry-hopped pale ale in the SW of England) and "Rainbow Dream" (the most innovative Bristol craft beer: the fruit sour with the most complex berry and citrus character)). The West Country cider. The Bristol music scene: the birthplace of trip-hop (Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky — all from Bristol — the most important UK music genre of the 1990s after Britpop).