We docked in Dover today and many of my fellow voyagers left, their cruise at an end. It’s a really good feeling walking down the passageway the night before and not seeing your suitcases outside your door because you get to stay a little longer. Of course, my turn will come.
It’s a lovely day here in Dover despite not being too warm. It’s in the mid 50’s here on the water. There’s a little mist, or maybe it’s a marine layer, so we can’t see the French coast just 22 miles away. Seabourn offered a half day tour to Canterbury so that’s what some of us decided to do. On our way for the half hour ride to that city we stopped for a photo op at Dover Castle, perched on the white cliffs of Dover. When William the Conqueror prevailed at Hastings in 1066 there was a castle at this site. The present castle was built during the reign of Henry II in the 12th century. Beneath the visible castle there are evidently large tunnels which have continuously housed soldiers for hundreds of years. It was also from headquarters in those tunnels that Admiral Ramsay directed what came to be known as the “miracle of Dunkirk.” In May, 1940 the British Expeditionary Forces of 338,000 soldiers were stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk in northern France. British naval vessels couldn’t rescue the men because of danger from the Luftwaffe and inability to get in close enough to rescue the men. Operation Dynamo was put to work enlisting thousands of small boats including private pleasure craft to rescue the stranded soldiers.
From the castle we drove on to the city of Canterbury. This small city in the county of Kent is the home to three universities and to the magnificent cathedral which is the home church of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Church. The city itself is a UNESCO world heritage site. Portions of the old city were bombed during WW II but much of it and the cathedral were spared. I’ll write more about the cathedral in a moment, but I think the story of how the cathedral was spared much damage is interesting. The bombs Germany dropped on Canterbury were for the most part incendiary not explosive. There were fire-watchers posted on the roof of the cathedral and its adjacent buildings and these brave souls would push the bombs of the buildings or douse the fires before they could spread.
In 596 AD Pope Gregory ordered a monk named Augustine to go to Britain to lead a mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. The missionary gained permission from the Kentish king to refurbish some pre-existing churches. In 1070 ground was broken and consecrated to begin to build the cathedral that I visited today. The structure as it stands now wasn’t completed into its present form until 1834 when the last alteration was completed. The cathedral is built of limestone brought from France and is in a Romanesque and Gothic style. The cathedral complex includes the church, monastic quarters and cloisters plus several outbuildings.
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| This is the bell tower of one of the old churches here when Auguatine first came |
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| My first glimpse of Canterbury Cathedral |
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| The entry gate to the cathedral grounds |
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| This is a war memorial with the names inscribed of those fallen in the "Great War." If you're a Downtown Abbey fan as I am you'll know that after WWI many towns built monuments to the men from their towns that died then. This one stands in Butter Market Square near the cathedral |
In the 12th century King Henry II had a contentious relationship with Thomas Becket, the strong-willed Archbishop of Canterbury. They had been friends but had differences of opinions on some matters of state and their relationship soured. It is said that at some point Henry exclaimed “will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Four of Henry’s knights took that question to heart and rode to Canterbury where they confronted Becket and murdered him in his cathedral. The spot is marked with crossed swords bathed in red and quite dramatic. The cathedral is interesting but as one of my Australian friends (she’s actually a hoot!) has said it’s “ABC,” another bloody cathedral. I had gotten one of those audio guide headsets and it was interesting sitting and listening to the narrative in each part of the building. I wish the organ had been playing, but sadly it wasn’t during my time in the cathedral.
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| More pictures than you probably want or need to see of the cathedral |
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| This is the spot where the over-zealous knights assassinated the archbishop |
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| The cloister and next the Chapter House |
When I left the church grounds I walked down the lane in the oldest part of Canterbury. There were some of the usual tourist ticky-tacky shops, lots of pubs and some art galleries. There was a lovely jewelry store with handmade things but I managed to maintain my sales resistance. I passed an interesting looking building made of flint, which is the local stone, that is the home of the Chaucer playhouse. Chaucer was not a native of the city but since he wrote the Canterbury Tales they are enacted as plays in the theater. Nearby was the home of Christopher Marlowe, the playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare. He was born here and there is a lane in the old city named for him.
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| A couple of the pretty streets in the old city |
Our visit was short and then we headed back to Dover. I’ll be back in Dover three more times before I finally get off and return home so I may go back to Canterbury. I heard it’s easy to take a train there so I might try that because it seemed to be a lovely little place to spend more time.
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| The clearest view of the White Cligffs of Dover I got today was from the bus as we drove by because of the mist around |
Back at the ship we had a whole new group of passengers wandering around and looking lost. I went to the patio to have a salad and met some nice people from South Carolina on for just a week and some not as nice folks from Toronto on for longer. The Toronto people began their conversation with me by telling me four or five things they didn’t like already. They had only been on the ship for ten blinks of an eye so I couldn’t understand that. I shall do my best to steer clear of them.
That’s it for now. I have catching up to do on what I did between the wild tender ride on our day in Plymouth and today in Dover. I’ll do that later. Bye for now.
