Dover

Well, I've pretty much settled into a work routine in London: Mondays I prepare for my classes, Tuesdays I teach, Wednesdays I check out the site where I will be taking my class the following day, and Thursdays I take my class on their "field excursion." That leaves Fridays, which I set aside for exploring a new neighborhood in London. I know, sounds like I have it pretty rough, doesn't it? And I haven't even mentioned the weekend! I plan to use about half of my Saturdays for day trips outside the city.

Last Saturday I took the first of these trips, this one to Dover. I really didn't know much about Dover, except that it is on the narrowest part of the English Channel, that it is the home of the famous White Cliffs, and that there is a castle there. I'm not even sure what made me choose Dover for my first outing, I guess the combination of those things just made it seem like a pretty cool destination.

Dover is about two hours from London by train. When I got there I walked out of the train station with no map and no guide book, but I wasn't really concerned. I've done that dozens of times in many countries. (Angela can tell you about the time that we wondered around the streets of Citges, Spain with our luggage for about an hour before a kind woman picked us up and drove us to our hotel--which was in the the opposite direction. Then there was the frightening hour I spent at the Hanoi airport when there was no one standing there holding a sign with my name on it.) The big difference here is that there is no language barrier! Also, I had all day and just two things on my agenda: a castle and cliffs. I followed some signs that were supposed to lead me to a visitor information center, but the signs ran out before I ever saw an information center. It didn't really matter, though, I could already see the castle. I should have known it would be at the highest point in the city. (I'm really glad I didn't ask anyone where it was! I can see them pointing up at it and me feeling like an idiot.)

It was a bit of a hike to get up to it, but it was well worth it! It really is one of the coolest things I've seen. (If you know me, you know that I say that about almost every place I visit for the first time, but I mean it every time.) My favorite historic sites are ones that have layer upon layer of history, and Dover Castle definitely has that. I'll save most of the history lesson for the photo captions, that way you can skip it if you want.

The site where Dover Castle stands was important long before the castle was built. This area, which is within the castle walls, had been inhabited for more than a millennia.

Here is a ninth century Anglo-Saxon church standing right next to a first century Roman lighthouse. How cool is that? You can tell by the red brick that the church has been substantially rebuilt, but they still hold services there every Sunday.

Here's a close-up of the Roman lighthouse, with the great tower of the castle in the background.

Here is the inner fortress of Dover Castle, with the Great Tower in the background on the right. I went to the top of the tower. On a clear day you can see France from up there. It was sunny, but there was a haze over the channel.

By the twelfth century, when the Great Tower was built, they had pretty much stopped building those familiar looking towers, so it was probably more for show than for protection. The outer portions of the castle, like what's pictured here, would have done the real work of defense.

They've done a great job setting up the rooms in the Great Tower as they might have looked in Medieval times. Here's the banquet room.

The passageways really make you feel like you are in a castle. This one is above ground, but there are many that go deep below the surface, with openings in the cliffs that overlook the channel.

The history of Dover Castle doesn't end in Medieval times. Every time that Britain was at war with the Continent, including the Napoleonic Wars, and World Wars I and II, the castle was adapted to defend the island at its closest point to the mainland. The passageways I mentioned above were used to direct the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940. I was able to go down and see that area, which was left as it was during World War II, unfortunately, photography was not allowed.

After spending a few hours at the castle, I hiked (another serious hike) over to the best viewing spot for the White Cliffs. They were pretty spectacular. I took dozens of pictures, but they don't quite do them justice, and they all look pretty much like the one below.

Here are the famous White Cliffs of Dover.

I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to spend the semester this way and since I haven't done so yet on this blog, I want to thank Missouri Southern for giving me that opportunity. Well, I better get this posted, tomorrow I am off to Stonehenge and Bath!

Cheers!