What to see at Glastonbury, abbey, music and esotericism in England

During my recent trip through the south of england I arrived at G with the intention of visiting the remains of his former abbey, which reached its maximum splendor during the 12th century.

But after visiting these remains and walking through the meadow that surrounds them, I discovered the most curious aspect of this small town in the county of Somerset.

I mean your pagan and esoteric facet that currently envelops everything G and its very peculiar residents.

I'm going to tell you the experience of our visit.

What to see and do in Glastonbury

In fact, after leaving the car in the parking lot next to the town hall and the entrance to the Glastonbury Abbey, before agreeing to this visit, a sign that was on the door of the aforementioned town hall building caught our attention: Today Witches Market.

Naturally, we could not resist the temptation and entered the large hall of the town hall.

Witches, magic and esotericism

And there we were surprised to see that, indeed, a market was being held where the “witches"And "witches"”exhibited a great variety of esoteric and magical objects.

I admit that until then I had not seen anything similar, so it was a really curious experience for me.

And not so much for the objects on display (which also…) for sale at the market, but for the “characters” who attended the different positions of the same.

Next we walked through the grounds of the aforementioned abbey and, finally, to complete our Glastonbury visit, we decided to take a walk along its main street.

And here came the real surprise: the Witches Market It was not something anecdotal, but the entire town is completely involved in the environment of esotericism.

On the walk we saw that the stores where these types of products are sold have all the prominence, and that the brujas, magicians, the Ltarot readers, medium and all kinds of mystical characters have in G your place of residence.

In your walk through Glastenbury You will see a combination of historic buildings and houses with facades painted in bright colors and with shops where the most varied esoteric objects are offered.

And in them, or walking through the streets, a range of the most curious characters.

What is the explanation for this?

It all starts from the fact that G It has historically been the main place of Christian pilgrimage in England, as there is a legend that says that Joseph of Arimathea arrived in this enclave of the British Isles bringing the Holy Grail.

And it is said that on a nearby hill, the Glastonbury tor, founded the first church on the islands, around the year 60 of this was.

If you go up this hill now, you will have the best panoramic views of the somerset county.

But above all G is linked to the legends of king arthur, since the monks of the abbey, back in the 12th century, said they had discovered the tombs of Arthur y Geneva.

Now Glastonbury is a great center where the christian pilgrims and the largest samples of esoteric world.

Glastonbury Abbey

Now, the real cultural reason that will lead you to visit Glastonbury is to know the aforementioned abbey.

At the outset, I admit that since I visited the remains of the Fountains Abbey, not far from Y, in the north of England, I fell in love with the charm of these places in Great Britain.

They are corners where the archaeological remains of a church or a castle are combined with landscapes of forests and wide meadows.

Therefore, it led me to G the intention of walking through the meadows that surround the remains of the aforementioned abbey, whose origins date back to nothing more and nothing less than the year 63, when it was ordered to be built by the Saxons.

History of Glastonbury Abbey

In fact, it is one of the oldest non-underground churches in the world.

The history of this monastery was actually not very long. It was expanded in the 1066th century, and in XNUMX it suffered the effects of the invasion of England by the Normans.

That did not prevent it from becoming one of the richest monasteries in England during the 11th century.

In the 1184 Glastonbury Abbey It was destroyed by a fire, which led to its reconstruction.

Finally, in 1536 it was one of the main places that suffered the Dissolution of the Monasteries advocated by the King Henry VIII.

Holy Grail and King Arthur, the legends of Glastonbury

The history of the abbey is shrouded in legends because, as I have mentioned, it is said that its origin is found in the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea in the 7th century bringing the Holy Grail.

It is also thought that the King Arthur y Geneva, whose bodies are «they discovered» during the reconstruction of the building after the fire at the end of the 12th century.

To visit you have to go to the center of the Glastonbury village, and you can park your car in the parking lot right next to the town hall building.

Next to this parking lot you find the entrance to the abbey grounds.

This enclosure, in reality, is a large meadow of about 15 hectares in area where some enormous trees stand, and which you arrive after passing through the ticket offices and the small Abbey museum.

On your walk you will be able to see the remaining walls of this ancient abbey from different perspectives.

Only a small complete building remains; Circular in shape, it is the area of ​​what was the kitchen since the 14th century, which is decorated with some furniture and various objects.

From the old church building you can see remains of the walls and the façade, so you can see the space of the central nave. You will also be able to guess the space that the abbey cloister occupied.

Glastonbury Abbey visit times

The abbey visiting hours They are in summer from 9 in the morning until 8 in the afternoon.

In spring and autumn the venue closes at 18:16 p.m., and in winter at XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.

The Glastonbury Abbey ticket prices are (2024), the general, 11 pounds; students and seniors +60, £9,90; and children under 16 years old, free.

Glastonbury Music Festival: dates and program

To complete your visit, you should know that currently G He is also well known for rock music festival which takes place every year in the last week of June, which has been celebrated since the 70s.

Is one of the most famous festivals in Europe where tens of thousands of attendees gather.

Here you can check the Glastonbury music festival program, which curiously, is not celebrated every six years to preserve the fallowness of the countryside where it takes place.

With this experience that we lived, it did not surprise us that before leaving G, upon entering a store to buy some sweets, the clerk, of unmistakable oriental origin, asked us: “What did you think of the town? a little strange, right?".

Map: where it is and how to get to Glastonbury

The people of G You can find it three hours by car west of London now less than an hour south of Bath.

Glastonbury Photos

Here you have more photos of the town of Glastonbury, where the colorful atmosphere of the shops dedicated to magic and esotericism stands out.

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