Lamar Lemonade Stand: Dover Castle

We went to Dover Castle yesterday. Half the day was spent traveling (three hours each way) but it wasn't so bad. On the way there I prepared our Sunday school lesson and on the way home I wrote blog posts:)

Dover Castle is one of the largest castles in England.

It cost a little over $20 per person to get in but because of our English Heritage passes we bought back in March we were able to get in for free. I love free.

This castle was built as a fortification of the English coast. It survived several battles including the Napoleonic invasion and later World War II. One of the reasons Dover was so successful in battle was because of its secret war tunnels.

The tunnels were dug to provide living quarters for troops. The largest tunnels were brick lined and provided accommodation for over 2000 officers and men.

This is the best map I could find of the underground system. We took a tour of the tunnels. Inside were rooms recreated as they would have looked back in the 1940's. All of the props were dated correctly but none of it was original. When the tunnels were no longer needed they were gutted and abandoned.

One of the other cool areas of Dover was the King's Keep. It was much larger than it looked from the outside. There were six levels or floors we had to climb to get to the top. Here are some of the things we saw inside the Keep:

The lighting makes it difficult to see but this medieval chess set was hand carved with intricate detail.

This is a map of the world, or what was known of the world back then. At the top is Asia with Europe on the left and Africa on the right. People were very suspicious of mythical creatures and you might be able to notice the map depicts more grotesque monsters the further you venture from England.

We took a few pictures from the top of the Keep...

As you can see it was a gorgeous day, a little overcast but mostly nice. In this picture it is hard to tell where the English Channel ends and the sky begins! If you look close enough you can make out France in the distance.

The keep was a turning point for me in our site seeing. When we went in I was full of energy but by the time we had climbed and explored all six levels I was exhausted.

As we walked back to our car we stopped to take a look at the harbor.

Dover is home to the famous "White Cliffs." The harbor was stunning and apparently on a clear day you can actually see the coast of France. It is a mere 21 miles away.

And of course I can't end a post without putting up some pictures of our Spencer boy...