Journey back with me to England. Once the cruise ship docked, we were whisked away by private car to Canterbury, which took about 2.5 hours. We drove by the city walls, ancient, and built by the Romans, into the centre of the city. Entering the tiny streets of the city centre was like going back in history. Every timber-framed building and cobbled street had a story. We were dropped off outside the gate of the Canterbury Cathedral. We were staying in the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge, which is through the gate, and on the grounds of the cathedral. In fact, our room had quite a spectacular view of the cathedral tower, just ~50 yards away.
We dropped off our luggage at the lodge, and stared with wide eyes at the immensity of the cathedral. You cannot take it all in at once. Canterbury Cathedral, founded in 597, is the mother church of England, and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury is here. Not to mention the Christian history that took place there, most notably the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. He and King Henry II were friends, but Becket took his job seriously and the king had some issues with that. Four knights thought the king wanted Becket out of the way, and they murdered him right there at the altar of the cathedral.
Anyway, it was time for some lunch, which we found at the cute coffee shop, Burgate Coffee. then we did a bit of wandering. I was unfamiliar with Canterbury, and just wanted to get to know the streets. It is a beautiful little city, with a river, crooked buildings, cobbled streets, shops, and lots of people. The sun was shining, it was warm, and everyone was out enjoying the weather and the place.
We attended Sunday evensong at the cathedral, which was absolutely beautiful, with all male choir of about 40, singing harmonies that echoed for several seconds after they ended a song. After evensong, we just took some time exploring the cathedral since we were already there. To say it is grand is an understatement. It is the largest cathedral in the UK, with St. Paul's next behind it. Those are the two cathedrals I got to visit on this trip!
Some of my favourite things in the city were the bookstores, especially the Chaucer Bookshop and the Catching Lives charity bookshop (which is the crookedest building I have ever seen, in the last photo). There were great restaurants, my favourite being an all gluten-free bistro, Oscar & Bentleys, which was one of my favourite meals of the trip. We also ate at Alice and the Hatter, a very colourful, decorated Alice themed tea room. We toured The Canterbury Tales, an attraction in an old church that has you walk through five of the stories from The Canterbury Tales, with a few actors who are dressed in period clothing and help tell the stories.
We also visited the St. Augustine Abbey ruins, which is the location where St. Augustine started his ministry in England, there in 597 a monastery was founded, and thrived until 1538 (the Reformation), when King Henry VIII took it over and instead of demolishing it, added brick layers to the building and made it a palace for himself. Walking around the ruins I tried to imagine what it looked like when it was a vibrant monastery through the middle ages. Such an important piece of Christian history.
Canterbury is a lovely, walkable town to visit filled with Christian history. I am so glad we took a few days to explore.
No comments:
Post a Comment