Day Trip to Canterbury!

What does one do when in Dover, England? Take a day trip to Canterbury, of course! Since it is just a short train ride away, why not?

I just love the fact that we walked for fifteen minutes, hopped on a train, and arrived in another city! Gotta love mass transit, metros, trains, and buses!

Walking into Canterbury from the station the first thing you notice is the wall, with towers, around the city. We walked through a lovely park, and headed towards the Canterbury Cathedral, through Canterbury Village, which was simply charming. I loved everything about it; my kind of place!
The Cathedral has been worshipping God for more than 1,400 years and is considered one of the great holy places of Christendom. Apparently, pilgrims and visitors have made their way to the Cathedral since the Middle Ages, and remain one of the most visited places in the country.

It was extremely large with many "famous dead people" buried within, including Thomas Becket, Henry IV of England, Joan of Kent, Margaret Beaufort, Edward, the Black Prince, and many other Dukes, Earls, and Archbishops. Oddly enough there is even someone buried half inside the Cathedral and half on the other side of the Cathedral wall!

The Cloisters and the Crypt were probably my favorite areas, but the stained glass was pretty spectacular, too.

After the Cathedral, it wouldn't be a trip to Canterbury without seeing the "Crooked House"! It is perched at the end of Palace Street, and is truly crooked! The house was built in 1617, and shockingly still stands. Being from the US of A, you know we would have torn that down, long ago.

The house began to lean as a result of alterations to an internal chimney, causing the house to move sideways, and in 1988, the chimney collapsed. Canterbury decided to save the house and it is now supported by internally placed steel beams and is currently a bookstore.

Right across the street was a cute little coffee shop that I just couldn't pass up; iced coffee and a marzipan apple were just what the doctor ordered. We all had a snack, and a great conversation with the barista, who happened to "love our accents"!! Bahahahaha

Our next little jaunt took us over a street to another adorable, outdoor cafe, but this time we had beers and Mojitos! We people watched and picked out new boyfriends and girlfriends for each other. MAN were there some doozies to pick from! lol I was kind and took no photos of the unsuspecting people, all locals, my guess.

Since it was closing in on supper time, we decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to Dover on the train, and boy, oh boy, am I glad that we did. We found an Italian Restaurant that had AMAZING pizza. It had garlic and olive oil as a base, some sort of cheese, chicken, peppers, and caramelized onions. It was so, so good. Totally hit the spot, and the place was in a perfect place for more people watching while being surrounded by total quaintness. Is that a word?

If not, you get the gist!

Afterward, we headed back to the train station and hopped the train back to Dover, we were in an empty car and have no signs of illness from our other brush with covid thus far.

A quiet evening sitting outside the hotel for a few hours and we were ready for bed.

I would call this an extremely successful, enjoyable day.

Tomorrow we board the ship and head to Wales.
Night y'all! 

FaceBook: CML: A Place for Hope and Humor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cmlmichele

Email: CMLMichele59@gmail.com