My Canterbury Tale

The lack of blog posting has left me overwhelmed with too many things to write about and a lack of details. But I will do my best!

On Sunday the 22st, Kat and I went woke up early (in my case) after the game and went to Gloucester Road Tube stop to be picked up by our tour bus. Kat didn't get to sleep that night and was also incredibly hungover, poor girl. Anyhow, we made the best of our circumstances and pushed onward to Dover. There were about 8 of us in total on the Mercedes Mini Coach, with one bizarre tour guide. She was quite a character and wonderfully informed. Hailing from Ecuador, she spoke Spanish as her first language, while looking and dressing very English. We stopped at a rest stop on the Motor way to get some breakfast items. I was on the hunt for anything with an egg in it. I found a 'free range egg, and mushroom English muffin'. I was disturbed by the mushrooms but pleased to find out that it was not as gnarly as I had expected.

Our arrival in Dover was fascinating as we passed a huge steep hill covered in Sheep that are specific to Dover alone. I love sheep. We all know I love them. Dover Castle was a shock to me as I had not known about all of it's history. I knew it was a Castle built my William I, and that's about it. Come to find out it has much more significant history all the way up WWII.

We started our tour at the oldest part of the area within the castle walls: The Roman Lighthouse. It truly was an old Roman lighthouse! Partially crumbling and made up of rocks that are found all over the beaches of England, the lighthouse still prevails. Next to the lighthouse is an old Anglo Saxon Church! There was a baptism going on inside, so we didn't enter.

Moving forward in time, we entered the Keep that Henry II built for himself to live in. This is the king that had Thomas Becket murdered in Canterbury Cathedral. The Pope supposedly made Henry II crawl to Canterbury and pay respects, or be excommunicated from the Catholic Church. So he did it, and that was the start of the pilgrimages to Canterbury (and the stories from the Canterbury Tales) originated. Anyhow, the Keep was huge, square and tall! Walking up the many spiral staircases was no feat for the faint of breath. I searched most of the floors (that I could find) and saw them beautiful recreated to period decor. After the keep we had a light lunch/snack and moved on to the gift shop. I tried Honey Mead, Celtic Mead and spiced Mead and let me tell you, it was the most bizarre thing I had ever tasted. I told Kat she should try it and she was disgusted by the idea (probably due to the hangover). It should have gotten a bottle, but I didn't want to carry it around all day. Maybe I will next time I see a bottle of it.


Keeping on a timeline, apparently there is a Medieval Tunnel system under the Keep, but we didn't have time to make it over there, nor did we even know about it until it was too late. So we are skipping that.

We are now transported to the 1800s where there stands a large building which was used as military officer's quarters. It is now hollowed out completely and waiting for restoration funds. The outside of the building is fantastic! (Regular soldiers barracks are located some ways away on the hill, and are now comprised of a restaurant, and other touristy things)

During the second World War, Dover played an important role! Since the entire castle area is built on a huge hill, with the rest of the things I mentioned surrounding it, more stuff is at the bottom of this hill. There is an entrance to a series of tunnels that functioned during WWII as a military safe base complete with barracks, a hospital, offices, and much more. The tunnels are multiple layers and were used a lot during the war. We toured the hospital since the complete tour would have taken over an hour. This was amazingly creepy. I can only imagine actually having to work down here when the land above is being bombed. Dover is the closest point to the French mainland, the enemies had guns on the other side that could reach Dover. The castle went without harm, but everything else was targeted. How 'respectful'? Anyhow, the tunnels were a fascinating surprise.

We carried on to the Admirals lookout which was from WWII, and got great views of the ocean and the distinct white cliffs of Dover. PS: the rocks here are rather crazy distinct as well, I snatched a couple to bring home... oops.

After we conquered the Castle we got back on the bus and headed down to Dover Marina and spend some time by the water taking pictures and enjoying the view.

On our way to Canterbury, we both caught a wink. Our mission once we were there was food. Our guide told us about a pub that has been there since the 14th century that was straight down the street, so naturally the historian in me wanted to go there. We got there, and it smelled old, so Kat didn't want to eat there (or anywhere without wifi)... Oh well. We had fish and chips at a little place up the street. It was really good though!

The town of Canterbury was extremely adorable. I could have stayed there for an extended period of time. It was so cute! I loved it! The shops were great: ranging from sweet shops to clothing to anything you can think of.


The Cathedral was magnificent. With it's towering Gothic ceiling and vast nave, it was truly a Holy place. Upon my entrance to the nave, a fat calico cat was wandering around. Cathedral cat and I spent a couple minutes together as I pet her and took her picture. She then went on her way, and I went on mine. I wandered through the giant Cathedral wondering where the shrine to Thomas Becket was until I came upon it's location and realized that Henry VIII would have destroyed it during the Reformation. Of course he did, the tard. Anyhow, there is a candle burning in it's location and it is pretty interesting. The actual location of Becket's death is marked clearly on the left side of the Nave.

The crypt underneath the Cathedral was a whole other experience. It was dark and somber there with little mini chapels all over. There were some creepy unique things lurking in it. I didn't really enjoy the feeling down there, but I lite a candle, said a pray and went on my way.


The bus home from Canterbury went quite quickly since I slept the entire time. Although once we entered London the traffic was horrendous. I finally got home, and awaited the return of my roommates whom have been in Paris for the weekend.


PS: If you click on pictures, it enlarges them.