Canterbury and Dover

Today we went to the historic Canterbury and Dover! It was the most beautiful day trip we have done yet on scenery alone. The pictures below will never do justice for what we saw, but I felt inclined to include them anyway! If I understood correctly the Canterbury Cathedral has been in use in one form or another either as a monastery or a cathedral since the late 6th century! Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by 4 of the King's Knights in this Cathedral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket

The above picture is one of the Cloisters at the Cathedral, the presence of cloisters usually indicate the one time or current residence of a monastic order. The architecture is beautiful and I thought picture worthy. The town of Canterbury itself is a very wonderful town full of great cafe's and tourist shops...a place that my wife would love!
Dover is only about 15 miles from Canterbury and it sits on the English Channel. The train ride over was amazing and the views are even better. This photo was taken from the walk up to the Dover Castle looking out into the English Channel. This is the port at Dover and what is not pictured here is a cruise liner in the right of the photo at port. There was a wonderful breeze and the mere sight of ocean was a treat for me. I love the ocean, the sounds of the ocean, seagulls swarming overhead, and the breeze coming off of the Channel.
Dover Castle as it is now was built in the 1180's though the sight of Dover Castle has protected continental Europe for some 2000 years. We were denied access into the tunnels because of some poor communication but I think you will find the read interesting to say the least, http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/defence/tunnels.htm After we finished looking around and exploring at Dover we jumped the train back to London.

A wonderful day of walking and experiencing history.