There are English towns everyone has heard of and few have actually visited. Canterbury is one of them. UNESCO put it on the World Heritage list, but even without that, this medieval town in Kent leaves every tourist brochure feeling like it couldn't quite capture the place.

The whole old town is a walled medieval relic. Narrow streets, half-timbered 14th-century houses, the river Stour curling through the green - all of it authentic, not rebuilt for tourists. The Cathedral, the main attraction, is the active seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury - a working religious institution, not a museum. The Romanesque-Gothic façade has been looking at the sky for more than a thousand years.

In this cathedral in 1170, four knights of King Henry II killed the Archbishop Thomas Becket. The chain started when Becket refused to accept the king's authority over Church affairs, and Henry II, in a drunken evening, reportedly muttered aloud: „Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" The knights took it as a direct order, rode to Canterbury and carried out the killing at the northern window. The spot is still marked. Canonisation followed in 1173.

The classic medieval pastime in Canterbury happens on the Stour. Wooden „punts" with a young man poling them down the river with a long pole - the same method used in the 19th century. The tour lasts about 40 minutes, isn't expensive, and you pass right through the original courtyard gardens of the old town. The view from the water of the city walls can't be reproduced by photographs.

For food, The Goods Shed is the recommended choice - a market-restaurant in the old railway station, with local producers and menus based on whatever was fresh that morning. For the view, the Westgate tower gives a 360-degree panorama of the city. Most importantly: Canterbury is just 80 minutes by train from London, which means it can be a day trip - but it's a shame to make it one. This town asks for at least one night, to feel it when the tourist load drops away.