Dover Castle and harbour

 

What a perfect day here in Dover! This is our view off the Lido Deck a few minutes ago, beautiful, but just a tad windy outside.

We got off the ship this morning with our transit card for ease in returning.  Took a taxi to the city center rather than the castle as intended—since the taxi driver said we were too early to get into the castle by a whole hour.  We walked about town where I spied a bunch of buses and suggested we go check them out.  We might as well ride around and sightsee for an hour or so.

The bus driver suggested a family pass, good for 24 hours, although we didn’t need that, but it also meant that we could hop on any bus.  Deal!  And that is also where we went—to Deal, England—to kill time until Dover Castle opened.  It was a lovely, winding ride through some quaint villages, complete with a castle in Deal that we decided we really wouldn’t have time to explore if we wanted to truly see Dover and its castle.  We stayed on the bus as it headed back south, and got off at Dover Castle.

This castle covers a LOT of ground, and has been continuously garrisoned for over 9 centuries (can you say OLD), and was built by Henry II.  Needless to say, it has a long and interesting history.  During WWII, Dover was attacked from the air and sea.  Deep under the castle and safe from aerial bombardment, the Napoleonic tunnels developed a new role as naval and hospital headquarters.  The lines (queues) were too long for us to wait and visit them, but we did purchase a book on the castle to enjoy on our own.  You could spend all day at just this castle.  We never made it to the other places I wanted to visit.

We caught the bus back to town, visited the local “dollar store” for sodas, and next door at the market for a bottle of wine, then caught a different bus back to the pier.  We had to walk about a mile back to the ship after being dropped off at the bus stop, but that was no big deal.  We got our exercise today.  And a local older gentleman took charge of us to make sure we got off at the proper stop for the pier.  Love it.

After dropping off our stuff in the room, we headed to the dining room and were put at a table with mom/dad from Florida, and thirty-something daughter  from Rhode Island.  They, of course, wanted to know about the ship, where we have been, etc.  Dick asked what table assignment they have…and we started laughing.  They are our new tablemates starting tonight!  What a coincidence.  We couldn’t have planned that any better.

So tomorrow will be a sea day as we head to Oslo.  Hopefully the weather will continue to be favorable. 

Having fun.  WYWH!