UK - Cheshire, not the cat

On this two-week trip, I had all of the major destinations planned out, but there were still plenty of things that I did on the fly too.  One of those was stopping in the town of Chester, which is located in Cheshire.  (Chester + shire = Cheshire.)  After leaving Stratford-upon-Avon, I decided I wanted to find a nice place to stop for lunch along the drive over to northern Wales.  After doing a little bit of last-minute research online and in my guidebooks, Chester came out on top.

For not knowing anything about the city when I started my trip, I was very pleasantly surprised by Chester.  For starters, it was much bigger and busier than I thought it would be, and that was actually a good thing.  I didn't feel like I was just visiting another tourist town.  This seemed to be a place that real people lived in, worked in, and attended school in.  Driving into town and finding parking was a little confusing, but manageable as long as I remained patient and kept my eyes peeled.

Once I began walking down the streets of the old town, I was once again amazed at how much character the buildings had and how they were different than those in the other towns I had already visited.  There were also upscale shops and trendy restaurants all over.

Chester Cross, where Watergate, Eastgate, Bridge, and Northgate streets meet.

The Chester "Rows."  Buildings with shops on the first (partially underground) and second floors.

It's all about the windows!  Although it looks medieval, this is probably a Victorian era building.

Town hall.

A milkshake bar.  Never seen that before.

Chester Cathedral.

Eastgate Clock, above the east gate of the city walls.

I was still on a mission to try a cream tea.  Thanks to positive reviews on TripAdvisor, I found the café Marmalade (http://www.marmalade-chester.co.uk/Marmalade/Home.html.)  It was very tiny inside with only a few tables, but luckily a large group left soon after I arrived which freed up a lot of space.  The staff was very friendly and helped explain the menu, as there were a variety of sandwiches, salads, jacket potatoes (what they call baked potatoes over there), and tea courses available.

In addition to a regular cream tea, which is black tea served with a scone, clotted cream, and strawberry jam, they offered an afternoon tea, which is a full tea course.  This sounded like the best deal, considering I needed lunch in addition to my cream tea.  When the platter came out, I was flabbergasted at how much food there was!  I was definitely in heaven for a little while as I finally got to indulge in scones with clotted cream (which is amazing!) and so much more!  There was no way I could finish my half of the platter, so they were nice enough to give me a to-go (takeaway) box for the leftover desserts.

Pouring my tea, and doing a horrible job.

Tier 1: Scones and clotted cream.  Tier 2: Sponge cake and brownies.  Tier 3: Two types of sandwiches.  (There's a reason that I came back from this trip weighing more than I ever have in my whole life.)

After stuffing myself with all things unhealthy, I decided it was a good idea to walk around the city some more before getting back into the car.  I came across the north gate of the old city walls, and noticed stairs leading to the top.  That resulted in a nice elevated stroll through town and some different views.

Northern wall gate.

Up above.

The Chester Canal runs along the northern wall.

The path led me to the east gate.

My short visit to Chester was well worth it, for the food and the sights.  I'm glad I got to check out this town that I would have just rode right past, not knowing what I was missing out on.

Next up: Northern Wales & Snowdonia National Park