A Day in Dover

Greetings!

I've been falling behind (already) on posting, so today is my catching up day.

If you like seeing beautiful things, GO TO DOVER.
If you like exploring, GO TO DOVER.
If you like history, GO TO DOVER.
If you like walking, GO TO DOVER.
If you like the ocean, GO TO DOVER.
If you like being amazed, GO TO DOVER.

Yesterday I took a bus with two friends to Dover, England. You can also take a train to Dover, but it is more expensive. I booked my bus tickets a little less than a week before I went, and it was 16 pounds round trip! The train would have been more than double that in cost, but take an hour to get to Dover. The bus was also very comfortable. It was a little over two hours, which was really not a big deal, as long as you leave early. We left at 7:30 am and stayed in Dover until 8:00 pm.

We really lucked out that the weather was GORGEOUS! In the rain, the cliffs can be slick (yikes!), it is much much colder and windier, not as pretty, and so forth. So try to go on a sunny day, but is so hard to plan on that in England!

The bus station is right in the center of town, so to get ourselves settled, we started wondering around. We saw St. Mary's right away, which was so beautiful. It just so happens that on Saturday Mornings in the Parish center (right next to the church) they serve coffee and tea for 70 pence and all of the profits go to charity. If you're there on a Saturday, stop in! There were a bunch of sweet elderly folk in there, who sat with us and told us all sorts of stories. They were so friendly and were one of the big highlights of the trip. They told us about Dover a bit more as well, and we asked a few questions which they gladly answered.

Next we went to a bakery. Since it is not London anymore, things were so much cheaper! I should have bought some home made bread (40 pence for a loaf!). But the bakery wasn't actually great quality, just a note. My little pastry I got was just okay...but that could also be because I am a bit obsessed with bakeries, and have high standards. I did see more bakeries around, so I would recommend going into a few first.

We headed up to the castle first, and the views up were just lovely. When we got to the top, it was breathtaking. You could see all of Dover as well as the ocean. Simply amazing. Also, the castle costs 17 pounds admission-yikes! But, it was worth it. You can see the castle, go inside it and explore, go into the tunnels of the cliffs, museum, tours, lighthouse and much more! You could seriously spend a whole day just up there. We did the hour tour, "Secret Wartime Tunnels: Operation Dynamo. Rescue from Dunkirk". This was an immersion exhibit, where you got to walk through the tunnels, listen to radio broadcasts, see clips of the war, and hear some great stories. I find the World Wars very interesting, and I really enjoyed this. They also have a "Wartime Tunnels: Hospitals" exhibit. There was also great views when you exit the tunnels. It was so cool to go inside the tunnels, to be inside the famous white cliffs! The tunnels were visible from the end of our bus ride, and I had no idea you could go inside.

Going into the castle was an amazing experience. Did I mention that parts of it are 2,000 years old? There is so much amazing history in Dover. The views were incredible on top of the castle. You had 360 degrees of Dover and the ocean-so beautiful. Words can't describe it.

We headed down after that, but that was a bit of mistake-we should have continued upwards to go to the South Foreland lighthouse and walk The National Trust Walk. Instead, we went back into town. We did end up going to the beach, which is beautiful. I would just recommend staying up at such a high elevation, instead of going back down, and then back up. We ended up taking a bus to just outside the lighthouse path. It was 3 pounds one way, which was a bit unfortunate. But just the walk up to the lighthouse would have been approximately 1.5 hours, so it did save us time and gave us more time to enjoy the actual scenery.

The lighthouse costs a couple pounds. We lucked out actually, because our friend we met at coffee works there, and let us in for free and gave us a personalized tour! This lighthouse is not only beautiful and picturesque, it was the first lighthouse to use electricity. There is also a cute little tea house attached. A nice place to stop before the walk back! The tearoom was adorable and the tea itself was delicious! They also had little cakes as well.

The walk back was another great highlight. The lighting was beautiful; the adjacent farmland was luminescent in the sun, the cliffs were stark white, and the blue sky made the ocean look even brighter. It is not physically a hard walk, but I estimate it took us a bit under 2 hours to do, with all of our stopping to snap pictures. The cliffs are one of the most memorable sites I have ever seen. I simply loved it.

We had some fish and chips at Castle in the center of town. The fish was greasier than I would have liked, but it was a good deal at 4.30 pounds for a small which was plenty food for us three hungry travelers.

Final words of advice: GO TO DOVER. The castle and the cliffs are simply magnificent, and if you have a day in England, Dover is a great place to be. I can't wait to explore more of this great place!

Cheers,

Liv