When Ben and I were planning our trip we decided that each of us would make our own list of things we wanted to see and do. Both of our lists were almost identical except Ben had listed Dover on his list and I had listed Chatsworth House on mine. So we each got our own day and Saturday was Ben's.
We took an hour train ride out of London's St. Pancras station. Originally we thought that we were going to be leaving out of King's Cross so that we could see Platform 9 3/4. But these two stations are completely separate from one another but both provide the same types of trains etc. Sort of weird.
We were in a rush to make it to the train we wanted and grabbed this bacon, egg, and cheese pastry at Pret on our way for breakfast. Incredible.
The train drops you off at one end of Dover and you have to walk all the way across the town and up to the top of the cliffs where the castle sits. It doesn't look very high up in this picture, but trust me, that hike was a beast. We were almost to the entrance when it crossed our minds that we could have just taken a bus ride up. Good times.
Dover is such a cute town! (Though not as clean as London)
Looking down over Dover from the castle.
Ben and a small trebuchet.
The first thing we did was explore the 12th century tunnels. That was when I first thought to myself, "Oh Heather. The first day you decided to make a gamble by wearing flip flops and it was in dark, wet, bumpy, uneven tunnels." That was a poor decision. So if you go to Dover, don't wear flip flops.
This is what the floor looked like. To clarify, those rocks are large -- this isn't an up close image. So yes, flip flops are a bad idea.
Their source of light and air.
These walls definitely look 12th century, don't you think?
This is the keep.
Medieval castles have always seemed cool to me until I actually went through the Tower of London and Dover castle and then I thought, meh. Honestly, living conditions weren't that comfortable and it wasn't all that glamorous.
Owning anything with color marked you as someone wealthy. Keeping linens died meant that you never washed them. So all the bedding and clothes were never washed. Only poor people washed their clothes. The guide told us that their blankets were usually full of lice and fleas. Gross.
Also, something I learned was that up until the mid 19th century, people never slept lying down because they superstitiously believed that the devil would mistake them for being dead and take their spirit in the night. Everyone slept sitting up. All the beds were just long enough for your legs to stretch out in. Also, in castles like this, even the wealthy would have several people (20+) sleeping in the same room as them. Bedrooms weren't really a thing in the middle ages.
A small chapel within the keep.
On the roof of the keep.
The castle's main chapel next to a Roman lighthouse that was built in the 1st century.
And of course, more stairs.
This trip gave me a real appreciation of how handicapped friendly America is. But it's hard to judge Europe for being so old, ha.
We went to gift shops everywhere we visited. Ben was in heaven in the Dover gift shop. And yes, he did buy a 1/4 sized working crossbow. I think the sales guy was so excited that he sold something in one of the glass displays that he pulled out some swords for Ben to play with too. Ben really wanted to buy a sword, too, to keep with his civil war sword, but this wife said no for baggage weight purposes.
We had a meat pastie and an onion and cheese one. Both were delicious. The deserts were both awesome as well. The chocolate caramel shortbread is apparently called "millionaire's shortbread." Both the sodas were disgusting. Lots of people use rose flavoring in their treats in Great British Bake Off, but unless you're a fan of eating potpourri, we don't recommend it.
The Roman light house
Using WWII binoculars that looked out toward the sea.
Flag codes to relay messages
You can see a tiny bit of the white cliffs.
I loved Dover because of its green steep hills. We were up so high on the cliffs that the clouds just barely went above the rooftops of the houses and castle. It was surreal.
Looking towards Dover
(and the long, but downhill, walk back to the train station)
Back in the '70's they were digging so that they could build a car park (sorry, I had to) when they came across this Roman painted house.
They basically built a roof over it and had a really poorly maintained "museum" around it. It looked like nothing had changed or been touched since they built it. Ben and I thought it was sad how shabby the surroundings were but I also had to admit that practically anyone in England who dug deep enough in their backyard would find something of value buried. The government can't fund everything. England has thousands of years of history to maintain!
Dover was amazing. We're both so glad we went. But it was in Dover that my knee slowly started getting sore and became so painful I could barely walk. I had to use Ben as a crutch when it became agonizing. But when we got back to London I went straight for the hotel while he ran out to a pharmacy to grab me a knee brace which was a life saver for the rest of the trip.
