England and Wales Tour

The date of the trip is symbolic because I do not remember the exact period. The tour was done in a Fiat Tempra with a friend, arriving in England by ferry from Calais to Dover where I saw the famous white cliffs (I had already arrived here years earlier for a tour of Great Britain and Ireland but I had boarded at night so I had not seen the cliffs. On this new tour I will also revisit London, going deeper into the visit). First stop at Canterbury, the Vatican of the Anglicans, since here is the Primatial Cathedral of this native religion headed by the reigning Sovereign. We visited the great Cathedral, the historic centre and a Regimental Museum. On the road to London we stopped to observe from afar the architectural features of Rochester.

The first contact with the London metropolis was instead in the green district of Greenwich to visit the Maritime Museum, the sailing ship Cutty Sark and the astronomical Observatory, home of the 0 meridian and the official time of the entire world. The Observatory is reached by walking through a lovely Park, inside which an astronomical Museum is housed. Overnight stay in Wimbledon. The following morning, visit to London: from Westminster (interior of the Cathedral) to Trafalgar Square you can see some of the architectural and historical jewels of the Capital such as the Parliament with the celebrated Big Ben, the bridge over the Thames, Downing Street, residence of the Prime Minister etc. The monumental Trafalgar Square, dominated by the column with the monument to Nelson, is home to the National Gallery, which we visit.

After the Gallery we pass through the Admiralty Arch to walk along The Mall, the tree-lined avenue that leads us in front of the Royal Palace, not before making a small detour to St James's Park with its romantic lake. From here, crossing Green Park, we reach the area of the Clubs and the noble Palaces, as far as the tree-lined St James's Square. A fleeting glance at Waterloo Place and here we are in the mode... [truncated] The following morning we continue the journey towards Durham, where we arrive in the early afternoon, in time to see the great Cathedral and visit the College inside a Castle. On the road to Carlisle we detour to a small village with remains of Hadrian's Wall. Late in the evening we are at the port of Heysham, from where we board for the Isle of Man (see the relevant Tour).

The following night we return to Heysham and, having picked up the car again, we spend the night on the road to Chester. The next day a stop at Chester on the border with Wales, a city of Roman origin with half-timbered houses. Having entered Wales we stop at the seaside resort of Colwyn Bay, then Llandudno and Conwy Castle, which is a real plunge into the Middle Ages. At Caernarfon another Castle awaits us, the one traditionally used to invest the future King of England with the title of Prince of Wales. But Caernarfon is also interesting as a coastal town. Crossing the Snowdonia National Park through a landscape that is often bare and lunar, we return to England where we spend the night.

The next morning, visit to the historic centre of Warwick with a few half-timbered houses but above all to the very beautiful Castle, inside which settings from every era have been reconstructed with the help of wax statues. In the afternoon Stratford-upon-Avon, another splendid town that lives in the memory of William Shakespeare, perpetuated in a modern museum but above all in the houses where he lived. The urban fabric is made up of the typical half-timbered houses immersed in greenery lapped by the river Avon. In the evening, a long transfer to Cornwall and precisely to Saltash for the overnight stay. The next morning a stop at Looe and visit to the splendid village of Polperro, that is Cornwall as you have always imagined it: cliff, lighthouse, little harbour, seagulls etc.

Having turned back we pass through the centre of chaotic Plymouth, the city from which the Pilgrim Fathers set off for the new world. We leave Cornwall and the se... [truncated]