Cambridge and Ely

Cambridge is famous for the excellence of its university and renowned for the magnificence of King’s College Chapel, whose Christmas Eve Services of “Lessons and Carols” are broadcast worldwide. It is celebrated too for the beauty of its colleges, which for seven centuries have had wealth and skill lavished on them, a succession of distinguished architects having contributed to one of the finest collections of buildings in Europe. Seventeen miles to the north out on the fens is the tiny village of Ely whose skyline is dominated by its medieval cathedral, a Norman architectural masterpiece.

The willow-lined River Cam winds along the backs of the ancient colleges, providing an unrivaled setting for them. Punting along the river is a particularly enjoyable way to experience the extraordinary combination of rural tranquility and architectural beauty – a combination reflecting the harmonious variety of Cambridge.

It is a city of contrasts and changing vistas, with narrow alleys that suddenly open into wide dignified courts, bustling streets alongside venerable college buildings – and where cattle graze only a few hundred yards from the marketplace.

Notwithstanding its fame and the magnificence of its buildings, the center of Cambridge is quite small, with the charm of a market town, and it is an ideal place for strolling. Wander through the streets and colleges, peep in through Tudor gatehouses, look up at exuberant clusters of pinnacles and remember that Newton, Darwin, Milton, Pepys and, yes, C.S. Lewis were just a few among the many illustrious scholars who have been inspired by all this down through the ages. And the studying and researching and the everyday life of the city still go on today.