Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn - AKA our trip to a really old place!

After we finished with our visit to the castle in Nottingham, we walked down the hill to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn. This is a pretty famous pub and is currently the oldest inn in England. The pub is definitely worth a trip if you are ever in Nottingham (I am beginning to sound like Rick Steves!)

The history of the inn is really cool and helps lend to the experience of your visit. The Inn began in 1189 AD when King Richard I (AKA Richard the Lionheart) became king. He started the 3rd Crusade and the knights and men who fought in the crusades would gather at the castle to get ready to fight. Before they left for the crusades in Jerusalem, they would stop at this inn which is built in caves beneath the castle for food and drink.

Now, for those of you interested in public health, every good castle had a brew house that made ale. The reason is that the water was horrible - it was dirty and you could get very sick if you drank the water. So the brewer would make beer or ale for the residents of the castle to drink. The process of brewing would sterilize the water, and everyone would stay healthy. I think this is just another good reason to drink ale :) The nice thing about the caves at this castle was that they were very cool and could maintain a steady temperature which was needed to brew the beer.

Isaac and I standing outside of the pub

When you enter the pub, it is like stepping back into time. The caves are still there. In fact, you can explore them while you wait for your food and you even can eat in them if you wish.

Mike, Carla, and John coming up to our cave to eat, drink, and be merry!

Just getting up the stairs from the main level is pretty amazing. The main level has the bar and an eating area. But if you keep making your way up the stairs, you end up in the Rock Lounge, which is where we ate lunch.

Joyce, Abby and Isaac share a drink while waiting for our food

The Rock Lounge is really cool. There are several large tables, which made our lunch experience quite lovely. Jack had room to move around, and the ambiance was just perfect. When I closed my eyes, all I saw were knights and other men getting ready for their battle and having "one for the road." From the Rock Lounge, you can walk up one more flight of stairs - if you look closely behind where Joyce and Abby are sitting, you can see the stairs. When you go up the stairs and look up, you can't help but notice how high the original ceiling is in that part of the cave. Again, I am struck wondering how this cave came to be here in this place and who built it - was it a natural cave or did King Richard have it built? And more importantly, how does this cave remain standing even after all this time????

Looking up at the ceiling of the cave

Jack going down the stairs - if you look up where the gate is to the left,
you see the ceiling of the cave

Up these stairs is the museum room. This is a cosy little place that has some interesting artifacts in it.

The Museum Room

Outside of the pub are more picnic tables and there are people everywhere. I was reminded at this pub that no matter where you are, home is not too far away. Here is a picture of a girl who was sitting outside of the pub. Notice the emblem on her sleeve.

I didn't stop to ask her why she had the Caterpillar Tractor logo on her shirt, but I thought of my friends and family members who have worked and/or are working at Cat. It is a small world after all!

Going to lunch at Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem was quite a trip! We had great food...

My black and blue burger and pint of Ye Olde Trip ale

and shared lots of great laughs. Just as an aside - if you look at the left side of this picture, you can sort of make out a chair. This is a really special chair - according to the sign, the last person to sit in this chair became pregnant really quickly...the girls all avoided this chair like the plague :)

The 10 "trippers"

When lunch was over, we walked back up the hill once more to continue our journey to Sherwood Forest.

Walking back up the hill towards the castle

I continue to be blessed by good friends and phenomenal experiences here in this distant land. I just can't get over how history comes to life over here. I think I have found a new passion and I know Isaac and I made the right decision to come here. Life is good - especially when ale, good friends, and food are involved - Cheers!