Dover Castle and White Cliffs

During Elise's visit, we went on a three-day trip, touring parts of southern England. Our first stop was Dover Castle. This is one of the most famous castles in the UK and has an impressive history. The site was used by pre-historic peoples, the Romans, the Normans, the Saxons, and finally the English. In the 13th Century, King Henry the II built the main structure that survives today.

(L) A reconstructed stateroom in the older part of the castle, made to look as it did during Henry II's reign. (R) Oakley, Jack, and Lucas on the roof of the castle.

(Above) A view from one of Dover Castle's towers.

(Above) A view of the old church at Dover Castle from one of the towers.

More recently, tunnels built below the castle, above the White Cliffs of Dover, were used during World War II as military headquarters, where the British tracked German vessels and aircraft and prepared for an expected German invasion of the UK. English Heritage, the organization which maintains the site, runs tours of two areas in the tunnels, which we thought were the highlight of our visit to Dover Castle. The first and most interesting was a tour of the war rooms that British military commanders used to coordinate Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk in France in 1940. The other tour explored an underground hospital that was used during WWII.


(Above) At one of the exhibits in the Secret Wartime Tunnels they had kid-sized military jackets.


(L) The Port of Dover, one of Europe's busiest. (R) It's hard to tell from this photo, but you can see France on the horizon.

Another highlight of our trip to Dover were the views of the White Cliffs. Unfortunately it was a cold, gray, windy day, but the views were still stunning. It was too cold to do much hiking, so we may have to return to Dover during the warm weather for a longer hike.

(Above) We ran into a pasture with some horses along the cliff trail.

(Above) Notice the black sands at the bottom of the cliffs.