ITP 2011 Diary: Levent Boz

Canterbury Tales

 The third of July was a free day so I decided to visit the famous city of Canterbury. It was a pleasant and fast journey from London St. Pancras to Canterbury West station. I passed though the West Gate and entered this beautiful historic city.

 

My first stop was Canterbury Cathedral. This cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous structures in England and is a great mixture of Romanesque and gothic styles. It is a proud part of Canterbury’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites along with St. Augustine’s Abbey and St. Martin’s Church.

So my next stop was St. Augustine’s Abbey. This Abbey, founded bySt. Augustinein around 598, is one of the oldest monastic sites inEngland. It was built to mark the success of the evangelical mission sent by Pope Gregory the Great to reintroduce Christianity to the South of England (knowledge is always welcome). It’s so sad for me to write this but I couldn’t visit the St. Martin’s Church -The oldest church inEngland-because it was closed!

 As a museum-addict, I bought a combined ticket for the Museum of Canterbury and Roman Museum. These small but well worth a visit museums surprised me with their educational and interactive facilities for children. I took so many photos with my mobile phone (because my Canon’s battery was dead!) and decided to write an article/report about “museum education for children” to contribute to our project called “Children Friendly Museums”. This short but educational visit also helped me to learn more about Thomas Becket, his martyrdom and Dissolution of the Monasteries subjects.

 

I had only a few hours so I missed these: Greyfriars Chapel, ruins of a Norman Castle, The Canterbury Tales (medieval St Margaret’s Church now houses this place, in which life-sized character models reconstruct Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories, which sounds interesting), Westgate Towers, river tour, gardens … and also the famous Ghost Hunt Tour ofCanterbury…

 I think this is a good excuse to visit Canterbury again and again…

 Levent Boz, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Turkey