Texas Twin Sis
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2018
Day 2 pre-cruise Dover July 20, 2019
Woke up refreshed and ready to go for our all day tour after breakfast. First comments about Best Western in Dover. An older hotel still in remodel and repair but adequate. Our room was on the first floor, street view but really the 2nd floor (in USA) because here they call the first floor ground. Note, the hotel is on a reclaim water system so may have to wait a bit between toilet flushes to fill the tank. We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and didn't find out until after breakfast that if we had reserved breakfast it would have been 2 pounds less. Also confusing was continental breakfast verses full. It turns out that continental breakfast was the cold breakfast items, i.e. cereral, pastry milk. If you wanted hot toast or hot cereal that was on the full menu and ala cart the different was between 9 pounds for cold and 13 for hot. After breakfast Gary was waiting for us on the street side of the hotel at 8am. Turns out we never set a time or 8 or 9am nor did we remember to turn on our wifi to get an email from Gary until the next morning so he showed up at 8.
We headed out a little after 8 to a small amount of liquid sunshine that blew off later than morning, Upon gong to the look out to see and learn about the port and the marina we discovered mud and puddles. It changed our morning plans a little since it would be muddy up on the white cliffs so we drove to the town of Deal. A picturesque English town. During the drive there Gary asked by we stayed at the Best Western and we said because it was close to the port and we could see it from our hotel on the marina side and maybe could walk it the next morning. Then is when we found out that walking to the port would not be a good idea. There is no straight access or sidewalks to get there with turn abouts, turnarounds, etc that could take up to an hour to traverse. So we took a 7 pound (3 adults with bags) taxi the next morning with no problems and were there in under10 minutes. Since the castle/museums didn't open until 10am we drown down past farms and fields used by the Spitfires in WWII.
As Gary drove us through Deal we saw interesting houses and buildings all with English gardens. We saw that the town of Deal would have been a more “English town” overnight experience with lots of shops and places to eat and only 25 minute taxi ride (approx 25 pounds) or so from where the Magic would dock. As it was not yet 10am we drove down to St. Mary's beach, a rocky beach that is a favorite for summer beach time but in history this is where the Romans came ashore when conquering England. After a time looking at the beach and town we returned to go to Deal Castle one of the forts along the coast that Henry VIII built to defend England against the Spanish after he dethroned his wife for Ann Boline. This fort exhibits how it would have been outfitted in the day. After thoroughly going through this castle/fort Gary drove us to Walmer castle just down the road that was of the same design as the one in Deal but had been taken over by the Queen as her summer house. Since she wasn't there we could tour it and the grounds. Outside it looked like the one at Deal, but inside it looked like an English Victorian house. A good comparison to the one in Deal, it you do one do both. No pictures were allowed inside but outside on the grounds we could. There was the Queen's garden, a flower garden, croquet and tennis court and a kitchen garden. We then stopped for lunch at the Marquis of Granby in Alkham, Kent. It was a quite “English” bed & breakfast with a restaurant. Then off through country roads to Canterbury to see the cathedral. The cathedral outer wall square was very crowded and our Overseas Visitor Pass did not get us inside the inner square and cathedral. Looking through the gate we saw the cathedral was under repair with lots of scaffolding and tenting, you could not see anything really, so we opted not to pay the extra to go in. We could see the towers over the outer wall gate. Gary then took us to watch the punting on the canal. And other side street that were less crowded. It was a beautiful warm day and as I said school was out yesterday for the summer break so the crowds were heavy. Back in the SUV and we drove to Chillum a medieval village used for the the Jane Austin movie location. Walking by the White Horse pub and free house we went down a lane to a UNESCO church and churchyard to peer inside. Past the town square and manor house we headed off the the White Cliffs and later planned to stop at the town of Sandwich. It was windy at the White Cliffs but beautiful with lots of people walking the trail along the top and we could see the coast of France. As it was near 5pm and we were very tired (I guess still a little jet lag) we opted out of going to Sandwich and Gary dropped us at the hotel where we settled up with our Visa card. I won't quote price of the drive from the airport and the all day tour because it might change but I will say this. The drive to Dover was considerably less than the Disney transportation for 3 adults, as well as the all day tour the next day and it was with a private driver/guide rather than on a bus. Just contact Gary at Horizon private car out of Dover and he'll quote you a price and stick to it even 381 days out. He is an excellent guide and driver, even if he does so on the other side of the road (that's a ha ha for Gary).
We took an early supper at the hotel and then ordered our taxi for the next morning, as we knew there would be a rush since more Disney Magic bound patrons had checked in for the night.
Embarkation and Sea day in the next report.
Woke up refreshed and ready to go for our all day tour after breakfast. First comments about Best Western in Dover. An older hotel still in remodel and repair but adequate. Our room was on the first floor, street view but really the 2nd floor (in USA) because here they call the first floor ground. Note, the hotel is on a reclaim water system so may have to wait a bit between toilet flushes to fill the tank. We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and didn't find out until after breakfast that if we had reserved breakfast it would have been 2 pounds less. Also confusing was continental breakfast verses full. It turns out that continental breakfast was the cold breakfast items, i.e. cereral, pastry milk. If you wanted hot toast or hot cereal that was on the full menu and ala cart the different was between 9 pounds for cold and 13 for hot. After breakfast Gary was waiting for us on the street side of the hotel at 8am. Turns out we never set a time or 8 or 9am nor did we remember to turn on our wifi to get an email from Gary until the next morning so he showed up at 8.
We headed out a little after 8 to a small amount of liquid sunshine that blew off later than morning, Upon gong to the look out to see and learn about the port and the marina we discovered mud and puddles. It changed our morning plans a little since it would be muddy up on the white cliffs so we drove to the town of Deal. A picturesque English town. During the drive there Gary asked by we stayed at the Best Western and we said because it was close to the port and we could see it from our hotel on the marina side and maybe could walk it the next morning. Then is when we found out that walking to the port would not be a good idea. There is no straight access or sidewalks to get there with turn abouts, turnarounds, etc that could take up to an hour to traverse. So we took a 7 pound (3 adults with bags) taxi the next morning with no problems and were there in under10 minutes. Since the castle/museums didn't open until 10am we drown down past farms and fields used by the Spitfires in WWII.
As Gary drove us through Deal we saw interesting houses and buildings all with English gardens. We saw that the town of Deal would have been a more “English town” overnight experience with lots of shops and places to eat and only 25 minute taxi ride (approx 25 pounds) or so from where the Magic would dock. As it was not yet 10am we drove down to St. Mary's beach, a rocky beach that is a favorite for summer beach time but in history this is where the Romans came ashore when conquering England. After a time looking at the beach and town we returned to go to Deal Castle one of the forts along the coast that Henry VIII built to defend England against the Spanish after he dethroned his wife for Ann Boline. This fort exhibits how it would have been outfitted in the day. After thoroughly going through this castle/fort Gary drove us to Walmer castle just down the road that was of the same design as the one in Deal but had been taken over by the Queen as her summer house. Since she wasn't there we could tour it and the grounds. Outside it looked like the one at Deal, but inside it looked like an English Victorian house. A good comparison to the one in Deal, it you do one do both. No pictures were allowed inside but outside on the grounds we could. There was the Queen's garden, a flower garden, croquet and tennis court and a kitchen garden. We then stopped for lunch at the Marquis of Granby in Alkham, Kent. It was a quite “English” bed & breakfast with a restaurant. Then off through country roads to Canterbury to see the cathedral. The cathedral outer wall square was very crowded and our Overseas Visitor Pass did not get us inside the inner square and cathedral. Looking through the gate we saw the cathedral was under repair with lots of scaffolding and tenting, you could not see anything really, so we opted not to pay the extra to go in. We could see the towers over the outer wall gate. Gary then took us to watch the punting on the canal. And other side street that were less crowded. It was a beautiful warm day and as I said school was out yesterday for the summer break so the crowds were heavy. Back in the SUV and we drove to Chillum a medieval village used for the the Jane Austin movie location. Walking by the White Horse pub and free house we went down a lane to a UNESCO church and churchyard to peer inside. Past the town square and manor house we headed off the the White Cliffs and later planned to stop at the town of Sandwich. It was windy at the White Cliffs but beautiful with lots of people walking the trail along the top and we could see the coast of France. As it was near 5pm and we were very tired (I guess still a little jet lag) we opted out of going to Sandwich and Gary dropped us at the hotel where we settled up with our Visa card. I won't quote price of the drive from the airport and the all day tour because it might change but I will say this. The drive to Dover was considerably less than the Disney transportation for 3 adults, as well as the all day tour the next day and it was with a private driver/guide rather than on a bus. Just contact Gary at Horizon private car out of Dover and he'll quote you a price and stick to it even 381 days out. He is an excellent guide and driver, even if he does so on the other side of the road (that's a ha ha for Gary).
We took an early supper at the hotel and then ordered our taxi for the next morning, as we knew there would be a rush since more Disney Magic bound patrons had checked in for the night.
Embarkation and Sea day in the next report.
