Canterbury in Kent is 61 miles southeast of London and 18 miles northwest of Dover.  It has a historic cathedral, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, chief Primate of the Church of England and head of the Anglican Church.  Canterbury has been a focal point of christianity since Pope Gregory sent St. Augustine to Canterbury to convert the heathens in 596 AD.  He built an abbey, and St. Martins Church there.  Later the cathedral was built.  All three structures are listed World Heritage sites.

 

The Cathedral itself is historic.   Thomas Becket was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry II, and then went on to defend the rights of the Catholic Church against the king's wishes.  Becket was murdered there in 1170 AD by knights loyal to the King.  The exact spot is identified.  It is because of the Cathedral and Becket's martyrdom that Canterbury has been the destination of pilgrims who come to worship there at the Becket shrine.  Indeed, this was the destination of the pilgrims in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales".  King Henry IV is buried there. The cathedral burned down in 1174 and income from pilgrim donations helped rebuild it.

 

The town is close to the English Channel and was heavily damaged by German bombing in WWII.  Some of the bombs uncovered  remains of Roman structures buried beneath present day Canterbury.  One of these was interesting enough to inspire the building of a museum over the site.  The lowest floor of the museum is the uncovered floor of the Roman structure.  Archeologists have been able to reconstruct a great deal about the Roman way of life in Canterbury.  Life sized displays in the museum show what Roman shops were like.

 

The official tourist web site has a long list of attractions in the area.  One of these is the seaside resort of Herne Bay which is near Reculver where the famous "dambusters" practiced their runs before going off to destroy dams and inundate German industrial areas.