Day 13, Thursday, 27 April, Dover & Canterbury

We arrived in Dover, greeted by the famous White Cliffs. In the morning, we took a shuttle bus into Dover and looked around the town. We were looking for an antique shop and failed to find one open. However we did manage to do a bit of shopping and to take a quick peek into the Roman Painted House, which is an archeological dig from the Roman period in the third or fourth century. It was closed, but the owner did show us around for a bit. After that we went into the museum briefly and then caught a taxi back to the ship.

We got a quick lunch on the ship and then went to a bus to Canterbury for a walking tour. Henry II and Becket were central characters to the discussions on the way over, along with Saint Augustine and Geoffrey Chaucer. The tour was exhausting and there was not enough time to go through the Cathedral, but it gives us a place to go when we do a proper British tour in the future.

After the walking, we returned on the bus, driving past the Dover Fort, which has defended England against foes for centuries. It is shown in the White Cliffs photo at the beginning of this. We returned to the ship and relaxed in the lounge and had dinner with Alice and Bert in the Chef’s Table.