Alice and I went to Guernsey because we both had read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. It's a delightful book, even though it's about the Nazi occupation of the island 1940-1945; I listened to it as an audiobook and just loved it. While Alice read it, I went online to find Guernsey. At least I knew where the English Channel is, so the hunt was shorter! I highly recommend looking at the Visit Guernsey website because that's what absolutely convinced me we needed to go there.
Travel was a nightmare for me, but I think I have it out of my system after writing to United Airlines. And I did get to see the Munich airport; I'd never been in Germany before! Suffice it to say that Alice arrived, as planned, on Friday, and I on Saturday, NOT as planned. So we started our adventure on Sunday.
We walked. A lot. Someone said it was too bad we didn't have a pedometer but I'm glad we didn't. That had the potential for making our forays into quantifiable items, risking them being judged by the number of steps rather than by what they were. We loved every step. St. Peter Port is the biggest city on the island and we walked up and down that city, mostly up. It has what's called The Cliff as part of its topography. The harbour is at the foot of the cliff and the town just kept filling in the space between the water and the rock with buildings. Eventually people began to build on the high part, too. The result is a darling small city with buildings just cheek-by-jowl, many of them dating back 3-6 centuries! Walls are often 2-3 feet thick. And rock retaining walls are everywhere.
I have no idea how old this particular wall is but you can see it wasn't built yesterday. :)
The age and history of the island fascinated us. There have been humans on Guernsey for thousands of years; I think we were told that artifacts have been found dating back to 8,000 B.C. Castle Cornet, somewhat a "newbie" given the age of so many places, has been there since the 13th century and is used up to this day.
There were so many places to see that I think we both could spend another week there. We visited: the Guernsey Museum--small, lovely, well done, AND there was a band concert there the afternoon we were; (We were sure it was just for us.)
Vale Castle--come upon by mistake, quiet, very old: "evidence suggests has a history stretching back to the Iron Age" (from www.visitguernsey.com);
Travel was a nightmare for me, but I think I have it out of my system after writing to United Airlines. And I did get to see the Munich airport; I'd never been in Germany before! Suffice it to say that Alice arrived, as planned, on Friday, and I on Saturday, NOT as planned. So we started our adventure on Sunday.
We walked. A lot. Someone said it was too bad we didn't have a pedometer but I'm glad we didn't. That had the potential for making our forays into quantifiable items, risking them being judged by the number of steps rather than by what they were. We loved every step. St. Peter Port is the biggest city on the island and we walked up and down that city, mostly up. It has what's called The Cliff as part of its topography. The harbour is at the foot of the cliff and the town just kept filling in the space between the water and the rock with buildings. Eventually people began to build on the high part, too. The result is a darling small city with buildings just cheek-by-jowl, many of them dating back 3-6 centuries! Walls are often 2-3 feet thick. And rock retaining walls are everywhere.
I have no idea how old this particular wall is but you can see it wasn't built yesterday. :)
The age and history of the island fascinated us. There have been humans on Guernsey for thousands of years; I think we were told that artifacts have been found dating back to 8,000 B.C. Castle Cornet, somewhat a "newbie" given the age of so many places, has been there since the 13th century and is used up to this day.
There were so many places to see that I think we both could spend another week there. We visited: the Guernsey Museum--small, lovely, well done, AND there was a band concert there the afternoon we were; (We were sure it was just for us.)
Vale Castle--come upon by mistake, quiet, very old: "evidence suggests has a history stretching back to the Iron Age" (from www.visitguernsey.com);
the Le Dehus dolmen or "passage tomb"--small, pitch dark, impressive (3000-2500 B.C.) but not easily found, and this claustrophobe couldn't enter it; (I put a water bottle against one of its stone to give some perspective, sorry!)
Victor Hugo's home--large, over-decorated (by him) to the nth, great inspirational views, very worth the visit;
Castle Cornet--a fortress from the 13th century that is still a military site and which houses museums devoted to various segments of Guernsey's history and its military forces;
the Occupation Museum--small, filled with such interesting materials and information! and the reason we had come to Guernsey at all;
the beautiful nearby isle of Herm--not big enough to be an island (1.5 x <0 .5="" apologies.="" beaches.="" car-free="" for="" formations="" great="" holding="" local="" m="" mi="" my="" of="" one="" p-r="" p="" paper="" prehistoric="" s="" shots="" stone="" the="" those="" tranquil="" walking="" where="">
My photos bring back all the happiness of this trip. I won't bore you with more because one person's travelogue is another's insomnia cure.
The highest praise I can give to this vacation is that it was everything I hoped it would be.
Visit Guernsey. (Maybe read the book first.) With or without the book, you really will be glad you did.
P.S. I could add a bit about what we saw in London but as I said, I was trying not to bore you to tears. Let me know if I should add a short post about that bustling city. Thanks!
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