Canterbury, Kent

After lunch in Whistable, we went to Canterbury - famous for its Cathedral which is one fo the oldest and most famous of Christian structures in England (and a World Heritage Site). More on that later...

First up, this 15th Century Inn lies on the site of Canterbury's Roman Theatre built in AD 80 (about the same time as the Colosseum in Rome). It was rebuilt in about AD 210 as one of the largest theatres in Britain. The walls were mainly robbed out by the 11th & 12th C but much still survives below ground today. And they let me use their toilet.


Canterbury is also known for this guy named Geoffrey Chaucer...


He wrote 'The Canterbury Tales' - a collection of stories in the 14th C told by a group of pilgrims on a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. You can tour this reenactment but we ran out of time.


Canterybury is a walled-in city, with modern shops and lots of tourists on the weekend.


Our first stop is The Old Weaver's House.


To get there we have to walk over a bridge over the River Stour.


Now we're in the back garden of the Old Weaver's House restaurant where the proprietor runs a river trip.


This is our guide Chris.


Chris rows us UPSTREAM against heavy current to where the Greyfriars lived. This is where the first friars settled in Canterbury in 1224 during during the lifetime of St Francis of Assisi.


Our guide makes us duck under the low bridges.


Now all hell has broken loose. One of the French guys in our boat has dropped his expensive sunglasses overboard into the river. Chris the guide has jumped to the rescue but not before asking if anyone can row a boat. Mike can. So Mike is rowing a lot, keeping the boat still against a heavy current while I am holding our guide's ankles (after I took the picture) as he is bent overboard, submerged in the river upside-down to his waist fishing the glasses out the reeds. Plus there's fish and eels and if everyone goes to look, we'll tip. Everything ended well and I hope the French gave a big tip.


Back down the River Stour - this is where the Blackfriars lived.


A very popular pub in the Market Square known as the Old Butter Market.


The gated entrance to the Cathedral.


Canterbury Cathedral - its the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its where Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162-1170 where he engaged in conflict with King Henry II over the rights and privileges of the Church and was assassinated and made a saint and martyr by the Roman Catholic Church AND the Anglican Church.






After the cathedral, we walked on the towns walls.


Then we met Maggie & Daniel who drove half an hour from Rochester to meet us for dinner and Maggie chose this amazing Morrocan & Lebonese restaurant and then we hit a few bars until we felt too old to be out and went home (or to our hotel).