Dover and Canterbury

Can you truly visit a city to often? I would say no! So when an opportunity happened to visit London again, I jumped at the opportunity! On this trip, Mario and I were able to visit the cities of Dover and Canterbury. 

We were worried our trip wouldn’t happened due to the plane strikes scheduled for the day of our departure. Luckily for us, we found an airline that wasn’t effect by the strike. We took an early morning flight which was a bit delayed, but we still arrived in London early morning.

Waiting for the train. When in London, mind the gap between the train and the platform.

We took the Heathrow Express which is a quick 15 minute train ride into Paddington station. The tickets for this option are pricy, but you’re paying for the quick access into the city. We again would be staying at the Hilton Paddington, which is connected to the Paddington station. We were able to leave our bags and get early access to the lounge, thanks to Mario’s status, which was great since we hadn’t had breakfast yet. From there we started our day of exploring, we decided we would take public transportation as much as possible. So we loaded up our Oyster cards, which is a tap and go card, which we used instead of buying tickets for each journey. We got the Oyster cards many years ago and what I love is that we can add money when we arrive and it saves our funds for the next time if we don't use it all. If interested in learning about the Oyster Cards, click here.
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Along the way to our first stop, we found Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. The information sign states, “it makes up one of the most celebrated historical burial ground.” Across the street was Wesley Chapel.
According to their website,” it was built in 1778 by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. It was the first Methodist preaching house to allow for the celebration of Holy Communion.

As we continued to walk, we found a Chipotle for lunch.  After lunch, we arrived at our first planned stop,  St. Dunstan in the East Church Garden. The Church of St. Dunstan was originally built around 1100. It was damaged but the 1666 great fire of London and WW2. In 1967, the city decided to turn the remains into a public garden. It was a busy spot among locals and walking tours.

From there we took the train to our next stop which was the Word on Water bookstore. This bookstore is located on a barge in the Regent’s Canal. It was super cute and had a good collection of books. Sadly, I didn’t leave room in my backpack to buy books, so I just looked.

We headed back towards the hotel, where we found out we were upgraded to a Tower room again. After resting, we took two trains to the Battersea Power Plant, which has been turned into a mall. As we walked around you can see parts of the old coal power plant. There was an exhibition room which explained the conversion from power plant to mall. We walked around and decided to eat dinner at Street Food, a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. Mario had the all the pizza you can eat combo and I had half rack of ribs. From there we headed back to our hotel, as the wind had started to pick up making it chilly to be outside. The power plant was lite up at night making it more magical.

The next day, we decided to head to Dover for the day.  We had some options on how to get there, either take a guided tour, a train or rent a car. We decided we would do it ourselves and take the train. So, I used the Train line app, and booked us open return time tickets, which was a good move because our train was delayed getting us to Dover.

bedWhen we finally arrived in Dover, we grab Subway on the way to Dover Castle. After climbing up many stairs to the castle and buying our ticket, we explored the grounds of the castle. Dover Castle sits above the White Cliffs of Dover and built around 1066. This site has had its shared of adventures and was part of the evacuate hundred of thousands  allied troops from the beach of Dunkirk. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to see all the parts and missed out on the Underground hospital and secret wartime tunnels.
First, we went to the Port War Signaling Station, where we  sent a message in Morse Code. While there we climb to the top taking in the views of the White Cliffs and ferry terminal below.

Then we walked towards the Great Tower and the heart of the castle. First, we stopped the Roman Light house or pharos. According to the guidebook, “the pharos is an octagonal tower but of local flint and ragstone with brick dressing,  which dates back to probably the first half on the 2nd century AD.” ​Then we went inside the St. Mary in Castro, which has served military community for many centuries. The mosaic work inside was just beautiful. The light house and the church stand at the highest point within the castle.

Then we climbed the great tower and explored the inside. Along the way, I asked a staff member that best way to get to the cliffs. He explained you have to walk down a narrow and at times a very busy road. He advised us to ask the ticket booth for number to order a taxi. So after exploring,  we left the castle and got the number to the taxi. We called and within 15 minutes it arrive and took us to the cliffs which was a quick 10 minute  drive but would have took us at at least 45 minutes to walk.

When we arrived we walked towards the cliffs. Our first stop was the viewpoint at Langdon Hole , which offered an amazing view of the cliffs and the channel below. The weather was sunny and warm but windy.

Our next stop was Langdon stairs to the bay to see the shipwreck. According to the National Trust site, the shipwreck is the steel hull and ribs of the iron-screw steamer the SS Falcon, which ran aground in 1926 after a fire. It can be seem during low tide. The climb down was steep and the ladder down to the beach was straight down. I am not scared of heights but climbing up and down that ladder had my heart pumping! It was interesting to see the wreck up close and take in the views of the cliff from the beach. It was difficult to walk the beach since it consisted of large rocks.

We climbed back up and planned on walking to the lighthouse. We wanted to stop and see the Fan Bay Shelter and second ship wreck on the way to the light house. But since both were closed, including the lighthouse and it was late in the afternoon, we figured it was best to head back to the visitors center. So we admired from afar. I did some research online and it states the above places open end of March, while we were there beginning of March.

We called for another taxi to take us to the train station. We arrived at the train station in time, to board our train back to London. Our train ride back to London was uneventful but so happy we opted for the open return trip. After taking the underground back to our hotel. We decided to eat at Carriages which is the restaurant at the hotel.  Mario had pizza and I had chicken curry.

Our last full day in London welcomed us with another day full of sunny and warm weather,  but windy at times. We decided we would take the train to Canterbury to see the sites. We booked a train leaving from St. Pancras heading to Canterbury West. Canterbury does have two different train station, Canterbury West and East. Canterbury East we would have to get a train from Victoria station. It was a quick 53 minutes with no delays. We walked towards city center, taking in the views. We grabbed a quick lunch before heading  the cathedral. 

Your admission ticket to the cathedral is good for a year, so you can revisit often. When we enter the  cathedral, a choir was  practicing. It was magical. The cathedral itself was beautiful but added a choir singing just put it over the edge.  Additional information here

Down the street from the cathedral is St. Augustine’s Abbey, which is currently ruins. As you walked around there was information boards and an audio guide option. It was very nicely done and very informative. The staff on site were very nice and helpful.  Read some of the information board below to get some information about the current ruins. St. Augustine was a monk who came to bring Christianity to the English. This abbey was around before the cathedral.

We caught an early afternoon train, taking back into London. We rested in our room before getting dinner at the hotel restaurant again. The next day I left on an early afternoon flight while Mario would be staying in London for the the next week for a conference. Another great trip in the books!