Dover, August 24, 2024

Today marked the end of the first part of our journey 'Dover - Norwegian Fjords - Dover'. This means that the part of the passengers who are not continuing to Iceland have left us in Dover today, and new passengers are joining us.

Unfortunately, the weather was quite miserable. It poured rain as if it could do nothing else. We then took a bit of a look around Dover. Dover is the city with the most important connection to the European continent. It has a population of about 30,000. Here is the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, the harbor for ferry boats, and consequently, the truck traffic heavily burdens the city. Especially when the tunnel is closed, the city is flooded with trucks.

The city fits our image of an English city. Most houses are built with red bricks and follow the Victorian architectural style. The city, like most British cities, gives an impression of being impoverished. Many houses are neglected, many shops are closed, there is quite a bit of litter around, and even in such a small city, there are homeless people and beggars.

We then visited the most important sight, Dover Castle. It is a massive fortress-castle that has had great significance since the 13th century. Even during World War II, the castle was expanded and continued to be used.