Chester, England, UK...

We left Liverpool and crossed under the Mersey River heading for Chester. Almost on the border with Wales is Chester, a heritage city of uncommon beauty and teeming with history going back to the Romans.  We watched a short film at the Grosvenor Museum on the history of Chester and then set off on foot to explore the walled city. Chester's roots date back to Roman times, and the Vikings, Danes, Saxons, Scots, and Normans also occupied the settlement at various times. By far the greatest influence on the city, however, was its maritime trade along the River Dee which brought with it commercial and cultural prosperity. We started our walk on the city wall at the Little Roodees passing the Chester Roman Gardens and the River Dee. Just outside the wall, recent excavation for a construction project revealed an amphitheater that has now been partly exposed. As recently as 2005, excavations revealed two successive stone-built amphitheaters with wooden seating, one of them similar to that found in Pompeii. Within the walls are medieval streets with black and white timber-framed buildings that flank over the cobblestones from five story’s up. We continued along the wall to Chester’s most recognizable landmark, the East Gate Clock at the original entrance to the Roman fortress. Our next stop was the Chester Cathedral dating from 958AD. What a stunning church…the Benedictine abbey in turn became a cathedral when, following the Dissolution, a new diocese was created by Henry VIII in 1541. Leaving the cathedral, we went to the Town Hall and continued admiring the Roman streets and buildings known as Rows, Medieval timber buildings with raised shopping galleries not found anywhere else in the world. We walked back to the car, passing my favorite gourmet restaurant, Five Guys, along the way… We loaded back up in the car and headed for our ship in Liverpool. The weather was spectacular and our guide Ruth was great which added to our great day in Chester…a beautiful city! Hurrah tomorrow is a sea day…  I need some rest!!!