MS Costa Atlantica Cruise Ship just after Daybreak, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

A view of the MS Costa Atlantica reversing towards CT2 (Cruise Terminal 2) on the Admiralty Pier of the Western Docks, her bow pointing in the direction of the Western Entrance and English Channel beyond:


(Click this MS Costa Atlantica Cruise Ship text link to see the largest size)

This Dover Harbour photo was taken on a cycle ride (1) at 6.05 am on Tuesday, 7th of September, 2010, from the Prince of Wales Pier whose lighthouse can be seen just left of midships (see all lighthouse photos).

The passenger ship is part-way through a 17 Days Copenhagen to New York Transatlantic Cruise which began on September 4th. Itinerary:

Copenhagen (Denmark), Bremerhaven (Germany), Dover (England), Le Havre (France), Sydney (Cape Breton Island, Canada), Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada), Bar Harbor (Maine, USA), Boston (Massachusetts, USA), Newport (Rhode Island, USA), New York (USA).

The MS Costa Atlantica first called at Dover on Wednesday, 19th of May en route from New York to Copenhagen (Denmark). The ship then spent the summer season on a series of 7-night European Cruises calling at:

Hellesylt (Norway; Technical Call), Geiranger (Norway), Flam (Flåm, Norway), Stavanger (Norway), Oslo (Norway), Warnemünde Germany), before returning to Copenhagen.

A Costa Atlantica video with Italian sub-titles:

Clock Tower, First Lifeboat Station, and Lord Warden House, Dover Harbour, Kent, UK

In the foreground on the left are the Clock Tower and a single-storey structure that was Dover's first Lifeboat Station:


(Click this Clock Tower text link to see the largest size)

Waterloo Crescent
Fairbairn Tubular Crane
Lord Warden House

These two listed buildings (see below) are situated on the seafront esplanade at the landward end of the Prince of Wales Pier (out-of-shot to the left) close to the Georgian Waterloo Crescent, the popular Sue's Seafood Stall, the non-tidal Wellington Dock (with its tubular swan-necked Fairbairn Crane), the King Charles II Commemorative Walk - and not forgetting the pebble-strewn beach, of course!

A building on the other side of the Clock Tower contains showers, wash-rooms, and a launderette for the use of people with yachts and boats berthed in Dover Marina.

Part of a tug belonging to Dover Harbour Board, the DHB Dauntless, can be seen near the bottom right-hand corner on higher magnifications. The tug is berthed in the Tug Haven on the far side of the Tidal Harbour (no sign of the sister-tug, DHB Doughty, though).

Beyond the Tug Haven is the large white Lord Warden House, also a listed building. This was once the Lord Warden Hotel where Louis Bleriot had breakfast after the first cross-channel aeroplane flight on Sunday, 25th July, 1909.

The building became the Royal Navy's HMS Wasp shore station durating World War II and is located at the landward end of the Admiralty Pier (where the cruise ships berth).

This post-sunrise photo was taken at 6.33 am on Monday, 22nd of August, 2011, while on a morning cycle ride (1) along the seafront.

The Victorian Clock Tower, built in 1876-1877 to the designs of George Devey (architect, 1820-1886), was renovated in 2010. However, the flagpole flying the Union Jack flag (the Union Flag), and topped by a weather vane, wasn't restored until sometime after April, 2011.

Also in 2010, a news report said that a proposal to move the Clock Tower had been put on hold (2):

MS AIDAblu Cruise Ship berthed at Cruise Terminal 2, Admiralty Pier, Dover, Kent, UK

An early morning view of the MS AIDAblu cruise ship berthed at Cruise Terminal 2 (CT2) on the Admiralty Pier of the Western Docks, her bow pointing in the direction of the Western Entrance and English Channel beyond:


(Click this MS AIDAblu cruise ship text link to see the largest size)

The low structure on top of the pier to the right of the AIDAblu's stern is the Victorian Admiralty Pier Turret (alt. Dover Turret) containing 2 Fraser RML 16 inch 80 ton guns (RML = "rifled muzzle-loading") which were declared obsolete in 1902.

This Dover Harbour photo was taken at 7.24 am on Tuesday, 17th of May, 2011, from the lighthouse end of the Prince of Wales Pier (western side).

The reflections in the glass windbreaks - which I like! - are from the table and bench combinations (such as the one I stood on to take the photo) set out in front of the Lighthouse Cafe.

The seagull wheeling above the centre of the passenger ship has been included at no extra charge.

The MS AIDAblu sailed from Hamburg (Germany) on Friday, 13th of May, on a "7-Nachte Nordeuropa" (7-Night North Europe/Northern Europe, German Bight) cruise with the following itinerary: Amsterdam (Netherlands/Holland), Antwerp (Belgium), Dover (for London, England), Le Havre (for Paris, France), and then back to Hamburg.

At the Going Down of the Sun..., Dunkirk War Memorial, Dover Seafront, Kent, UK

Soon to be completely wreathed in shadow as the sun continues to set behind the hills of the Western Heights, this is the Dunkirk War Memorial on Dover's seafront promenade in front of the Georgian Waterloo Crescent of Marine Parade:


(Click this Dunkirk War Memorial text link to see the largest size)

The front panel, or plaque, depicts a battle scene showing a British Army soldier carrying a wounded comrade towards a small rowing boat below which is inscribed:

Dunkirk Veterans Association East Kent (1). This memorial was erected on the 16th August 1975, the 35th anniversary of the battle of Dunkirk. During the period May 10th to 1st June 1940 202,306 British, British Commonwealth and allied troops were evacuated to Dover. The memorial not only pays tribute to the bravery and discipline of the servicemen, but to the courage of the crews of the armada of little ships which assisted, and the people of the port of Dover who received them.

But as Richard Overy of the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, noted in A very British defeat, a review of the 2006 book, Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man (Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, 2006):