An Unpredictable Taste of an Unwanted Trip
By: The Diary Of A Corporate Lawyer
Tags: Travel, UK

A day in Gloucester

The 19th of December 2020, I went to Gloucester. It is a tiny town in the west of England. It takes only 50 minutes to reach there from Bristol. Throughout the road, one can see the classical British landscape filled with grass and slightly high hills. After arriving in the town I immediately found the post office that I am supposed to go. This was actually the whole and single purpose of this trip. In my mind, I never had any expectations for this small town. I assumed only elderly people live that one can be bored to death. However, it turned out that this tiny town is surprisingly alive and have historical importance.

First, my friend and I saw that the shops and cafes are all open. An unusual view for us after going through seven weeks of lockdown in Bristol. We were delighted to see how everything can be alive again. It reminded me of coming of spiring following a harsh winter.

We wanted to be tourists again and headed to the Cathedral. After giving our ‘compulsory’ donation and paying it by contactless or socially distanced cards we got inside. That moment I realised that whenever your expectations are so low the more likely that you are going to love the place you visit. The tiny, medieval corridors that once Harry Potter was filmed was enough to amaze me. I imagined being a monk there and having deep philosophical conversations with my fellows. A life dedicated to produce and think. Probably it was not as appealing as it sounds where you barely travel and meet new people. Returning to the current age, we ran into a very old volunteer of the Cathedral who was terribly eager to have a conversation with people. Indeed, he was friendly and never tried to lecture us. He just explained what the sculptures mean and what is the importance of the cathedral in history. We learnt that it was founded as a monastery where monks and priests are educated. During the divorce of the English Church from the Roman Catholic Church, it was targeted by the separatist and wanted it to be demolished. The Cathedral was lucky since one of the ancestors of Henry VIII, Edward II, was buried there and King Henry wanted to show his respect him. So, the Cathedral continued to exist by being a part of the English Church. And of course, more stories accompanied to this building with a mind-blowing Gothic architecture.

Gloucester Cathedral Vaulted Ceiling

Then we moved towards the historic docks. One can have hard times to believe that the big vessels come from the sea to the tiny channel and operate. However, these channels and rivers are the bedrock of trade in the whole European continent. The nearside of the dock, plenty of warehouses had been built with red bricks. Nowadays, they have been turned into buildings with different purposes like restaurants for small ones and colleges for bigger ones. This gives the town a lively sprit where people enjoy the sunshine over the river and have meals from the kitchens all over the world. It is still very surprising to me that even this tiny town is hosting kitchens from Thailand to Italy and Lebanon. In fact, it is one of the richness that the immigrants bring with them. This fosters the culture and joy of life considering these different communities living together in peace. We had our lunch in a Mediterranean restaurant which has friendly waiters and talented migrant chefs at a reasonable price. I was terribly in need of sauces embedded with yoghurt and olive oil. Such great satisfaction for my taste.

Mediterranean Style Side Dishes

One of the things that keeps me to be surprised was to see the bookstores and the crowd in this town. Unavoidably I compare Gloucester other cities that I’ve been before in my home country. It is unimaginable to see such density of people in a bookstore and perhaps the bookstore itself. This led me to think about why the UK is so developed and is going to continue to educate and cultivate its people.

Before heading towards the train station we wanted to have a cafe to relax for a while. Sadly, the cafe that we intended to sit in was about it to be closed around 4 pm. An annoying habitude of cafes here. Apparently, their only purpose is just to keep people awake but only in the morning. Whatever it’s their choice. So, this adventure which was supposed to be a boring and time-consuming trip turned out to be a good memory for us. I wouldn’t hesitate to visit Gloucester if I knew that I was going to thrilled that much.