Day 6
This morning, we are docked in Liverpool. Our excursion today takes is to Chester & Llangollen. Llangollen is a small town of less than 4,000 town situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Although Wales is not listed as a country on our country count list, the people here think it should be.
It was a nice hour-and-a-half drive through the Horseshoe pass to get to this riverside location at the edge of the Berwyn range. Llangollen is on the easternmost point of the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range. The Dee Valley is fully of natural beautiful. Lots of fields, forest, acres of heather, and sheep over the area.
It is obviously a summer camping area of families. There were several fields which have been opened to camping. There were lots of families with young children in the town, a town which seemed very prepared for the annual onslaught of vacationers.
Llangollen is also home to the one of the UK’s many heritage railway lines. The Llangollen Railway is a volunteer-run heritage railway which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is 10 miles (16 km) long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. It operates daily services in the summer as well as weekends throughout the winter months, using a variety of mainly ex-GWR steam locomotives as well as several diesel engines and diesel multiple units. The Llangollen railway station is a beautiful Victorian Era station.
After visiting Llangollen for little less than an hour we moved on to Chester and lunch. Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the England-Wales border. The town currently has a population of slightly less than 100,000, which makes it the most populous settlement of Cheshire West and Chester. It is also the historic county town of Cheshire and the second-largest settlement in Cheshire after Warrington.
Chester was founded in 79 AD as a "castrum" or Roman fort with the name Deva Victrix during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. As one of the main army camps in Roman Britain, Deva later became a major civilian settlement. In 689, King Æthelred of Mercia founded the Minster Church of West Mercia, which later became Chester's first cathedral, and the Angles extended and strengthened the walls to protect the city against the Danes. Chester was one of the last cities in England to fall to the Normans, and William the Conqueror ordered the construction of a castle to dominate the town and the nearby Welsh border. Chester was granted city status in 1541.
The city walls of Chester are some of the best-preserved in the country and have Grade I listed status. Apart from a 100-meter (330 ft) section, the walls are almost complete. It has several medieval buildings. However, many of the black-and-white buildings within the city centre are Victorian restorations, originating from the Black-and-white Revival movement. The Industrial Revolution brought railways, canals, and new roads to the city, which saw substantial expansion and development; Chester Town Hall and the Grosvenor Museum are examples of Victorian architecture from this period. Tourism, the retail industry, public administration, and financial services are important to the modern economy. Chester signs itself as Chester International Heritage City on road signs on the main roads entering the city.
Our guide took us on a tour of the Chester cathedral. The Chester cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It was formerly the church of St Werburgh's Abbey. Its architecture dates back to the Norman era, with additions made most centuries since. A series of major restorations took place in the 19th century, and in 1975, a separate bell tower was opened. The elaborately carved canopies of the choir stalls are considered to be among the finest in the country. Also in the cathedral is the shrine of St Werburgh. The former monastic buildings are north of the cathedral.
The place was really interesting. You can easily see the development of the church in the architecture of the building. One of the most interesting rooms was the consistory court. Built in 1636 the space beneath the southwest tower was the bishop’s consistory court. It was furnished, today, as such at that time. It is now a unique survival in England, hearing its last case, that of an attempted suicide of a priest, in the 1930s.
After visiting the cathedral, we walked back to the Crown Plaza for lunch. Rubber Chicken. The vegetables were bad. After lunch we decided to walk the wall around the city. A short two-mile jaunt. These walls are about the same age as the walls in Lucca, Italy but they are not nearly as substantial. They do provide a nice walk around the city and give you the opportunity to get to know the city a little.
Unfortunately, we were given more time here than needed to see just the cathedral, yet not enough to really explore the city. We hung out at they Chester Market, a new building with a large food court. I did find a place that had really good ice cream and had a mint-chocolate chip cone.
Afterwards we rode back to Liverpool, where they gave us a short on the bus city tour. Liverpool, Chester and even Llangollen made need more time to visit. We got back to the ship just as it had gone 6. We made our way to Sette Mari for dinner, but arrived too late to get a table. We had to settle on Compass Rose for dinner. It really isn’t settling, just another place to eat.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico
Kommentare