The National Express coach tore down the highway in the early morning, cutting through the dense fog and offering brief glimpses of the wintry English countryside. Three other students and I were on our way to the town of Dover on the southern coast of England to see the famed white cliffs and check out Dover Castle.
Upon arrival, the best word to describe the town was "quaint." It was an adorable, classic European town, guarded in the misty distance by a spectacular sprawling fortress of a castle. The coach let us off about a mile from where we wanted to be, so we set off into the town in search of a map so we could get our bearings.
We ended up walking around for a bit, but couldn't find the visitor's center (or any open/friendly looking hotels) so we just decided to work our way up the hill towads the castle.
It was an intense climb to the top, which we tried to make quickly because we passed an unfortunately very deranged-looking hobo on the way, heading in our same direction (4 girls + creepy man = not good). We made it to the top in record time, and paid the £11.40 admission fee to get in (heck, we'd climbed all the way up there, and there wasn't much to do in the town).
We had a picnic lunch by the entrance to the secret wartime tunnels, before taking a tour of them. The tour was really interesting, but didn't allow photography. Basically though, the tunnels were originally dug in the Napoleonic era, as a grid of underground passages carved into the chalky white cliffs. During WWII the tunnels were used in a 9-day mission to save France from German advancement in "Operation Dynamo," led by Admiral Ramsay. In the end, they actually saved most of the British and French troops that had been cornered on the beaches of Dunkirk in France.
Here I am in front of the breakwaters leading to the English Channel.
A bit of the white cliffs as seen from the entrance to the tunnels.
The town of Dover across the castle grounds
After the tour, we climbed further up the hill to see the castle. Having never seen a legit castle before, I wasn't sure to expect. I must say though, I was not disappointed.
The castle was enormous. The main chambers (throne room, drawing rooms, servants corridors, kitchens, etc.) were done up in period decor and narrow passages leading up and down spiral staircases led on and on to a seemingly endless number of rooms. One could easily get lost in the maze of passages going both vertically and horizontally through the stone fortress.
A view out one of the windows
Eventually we found our way to the roof of the castle, which offered a dizzying view of the castle grounds, the distant countryside, and the town of Dover. The vista was breathtaking, to say the least.
Back down at ground level, there was plenty more to see, from a gigantic trebuchet, to canons positioned between turets, and dank, dark medieval tunnels leading to narrow peepholes in the stone walls. The place stirred the imagination like no other, making me think of all kinds of medieval fantasy stories.
Traveler chics :-) The girls were great travel companions!
Leaving the castle after a full day of climbing stairs and hills and tunnels and cliffs and passageways and... you get the point. Anywho, lot of cool archways and wooden bridges crossing the castle mote.
Another view leaving the castle, which, I forgot to mention before, was built as we know it today by William the Conquerer in 1066.
By the time we finished castle-exploring, it was pretty late in the afternoon and we had a 17:05 coach to catch. So, we hopped down to the Dover docks to see at least a little bit of the white cliffs before walking back to the station.
The stone walkway you can see built into the cliff above the trees and the building is the entrance to the secret wartime tunnels. It sort of gives you a sense of where we were. So that cliff is basically all carved out on the inside, and full of rooms and passageways!
As soon as about 4pm hit, the town got a little scary. There were strange people hanging out in the bathrooms, there was something weird going on with owners of the cafe where we stopped for a rest, and everyone seemed on edge -- something about the town seemed extremely unsafe as darkness fell, and we all felt it. Not wanting to wait on the street for our coach, we found a little bookstore to hang out in until our bus arrived, which was a good choice I think.
By the time we queued up for the coach, there were a couple other Americans also waiting and two adorable old British ladies with whom we chatted until they let us on board.
Overall it was a fantastic trip and I am so glad we went. It was yet another great growing experience and certainly one I will never forget. There is something so liberating about traveling on your own (well, in a small group of friends, at least!), just being able to go anywhere and do anything you want, and just being part of everything you're experiencing. Such an incredible day!
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