In the village of Ely

Ely Cathedral

In the summer on 2023, I made a trip to the UK and spent a few days with a friend in Cambridge. Unfortunately, I caught flu on the second day but the first day I explored Cambridge and a nearby village called Ely. And it turned out to be such a hidden and unknown gem.

Village of Ely

We took a short train from Cambridge to get to Ely. It was a cute little sleepy town with a famous cathedral and lot of canals around, enough to spend a nice day walking its streets. And it was nice to see so many tourists around too. 

Ely cathedral

We first explored the old town. We walked past King’s Ely, a famous old school from the 900s, an old Bishop's house and then came to the imposing Ely cathedral overlooking everything in town. It was grand from the inside, decorated with a fully painted roof and stained glass all around. It was just spectacular in its beauty and scale. And the outside was stunning too. Apparently, this cathedral (and town) had a prominent place in medieval times but lost its importance later. The other famous spot in town is the famous politician, Oliver Cromwell's house.

Inside the cathedral

There are loads of such charming little Jane Austen-esque buildings all around. We walked into one such place for coffee, the Poet's house. It felt quite relaxing to just sit in such surroundings and have tea. Apparently, the town was originally built on an island, and therefore has a lot of canals around. There were many river distributaries around too, many of which have been reclaimed. 

Ely riverside

After exploring the town, we walked to the riverside, and it was quite fascinating.. There were lot of pubs and restaurants to hang around there. And of course lot of boats 😊. We walked around a bit, all the way till the fields out of town and then were off to Cambridge.

 

Cambridge

Cambridge is always a pleasure to be in, to walk by the river around the colleges. We had dinner there, amazing Korean food. Guess given the diversity of students here, the food places are also diverse and tasty. The main student area felt quite active but as soon as you get out of the main student area, it's so quiet and peaceful. As if you've come to another place itself. Overall, we had a nice ‘countryside ‘day there and I can't wait to be back for more such leisure days.