Dover - England

This mural is both amusing and sad.  It shows a painted figure removing one of the stars from the flag of the European Union...Brexit

Imagine our dismay when we arrived in the morning at the Port of Dover, only to see this....a grey, foggy, drab scene.  Thankfully, the mist cleared away and we had one of the loveliest days on the trip so far!

The famous "White Cliffs of Dover" immediately behind these row houses.  This picture does not do justice to the scale of the cliffs which tower above.

The famous British telephone booth.

The Port is huge business for this town.  Check out the size of the ferry and the transport trucks rolling out of its belly!

Unquestionably a seriously picturesque place. This house was located atop the cliffs and aside from one or two neighbours, was all alone.  Just after this pic was taken, the lady inside waved to me from her window.  My guess is pretty much only tourists come up this way.

In the distance atop the hill is Dover Castle.  By this point we had walked up to the cliffs and later we would make our way up to the castle on foot through a crazy, overgrown path in the middle of this forest.  We relied heavily on Cassio's gps feature in his tablet to orient us.

The narrow, cliffside pathway, with a view to the cliffs beyond and the unmistakable evidence of wind, as seen in the shape of the bush.

It is hard to truly appreciate the scale of this place from photos, but I have to say, it was absolutely majestic.  The other thing that stood out for me was the quiet.  We heard birdsong and breeze.  We saw almost no one.  The air was fresh and cool.  The earth smelled of grass and wildflowers. I will treasure this memory in a special place in my heart.

Here is a close up detail of the rock face, which is actually composed of chalk.  You could easily carve this dusty cliff.

Happily, we saw animals on our journey.  The cliffside has many gates to prevent horses and sheep from straying,

The turret is rather outsized for the attached building! The stone construction is similar to what we have also seen in Fecamp, France and other coastal towns of the region: it is flintstone broken in half placed in the mortar in such a way as to expose the glassy centre.  Beware! These rocks may be pretty, but also can be razor sharp!

View of Dover Castle from town.

St. Mary's Church in the centre of town was built on the site of Roman baths and earlier constructions of the church on this spot date back to the 1200's.  Unfortunately it was closed but we visited the small cemetery and garden around it.

Above and below you can see the pretty, tightly spaced, row houses on the main street.

Just before our ship set sail again, the sun came out and gave us this glorious view of the cliffs.  See that white spot up on top? That's a big lighthouse.