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| Welcome to Guernsey |
Guernsey is a very pretty island about 30 miles from France
and 60 miles from England. This island
is as close as the Germans got to England during WWII. Initially, Germany sent
the best officers to the island and tried to treat the islanders well, hoping
to show the mainland English how kind and humane the invaders were. This did not last long, and the people were
treated more harshly as the war went on. Another popular tour related to the
bestselling book, “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”, which is
set during the occupation.
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| Example of how islanders were treated during the occupation |
St. Peter Port is a small town and we had to tender in
because there was no room for our ship. John escorted a tour to visit the
remains of German occupation of the island. We left St. Peter Port and
travelled up the steep cliffs along very, and I mean very, narrow roads. Our small bus had to slow down or stop every
time another vehicle approached in the opposite direction. We first visited the German Occupation
Museum. This building contains a large
selection of armaments, uniforms, machines, an enigma machine and various
information displays showing how the occupation affected the locals. We spent a fascinating hour at this museum,
but soon had to leave because the water system in the building was under repair
and the toilets didn’t work. We were taken to a gorgeous golf club and country
club where we had a rest stop plus Guernsey cream tea and gauche (a local
raisin bread).
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| Enigma machine |
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| Some German weaponsry |
The tour continued to the Batterie Dolman Gun Emplacement
where we had the opportunity to climb around this Cliffside structure. This was a huge gun emplacement, yet the
opening through which the guns protruded was no more than 20 cm high but many
metres wide. This was like a huge
concrete fortress. As the tour
continued, we saw other bunkers, gun emplacements and fortifications dating
back to Napoleon.
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| Gun emplacements |
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| Casement bunker |
Gail escorted a tour that was meant to provide a general
overview of the island. The first stop
was the Chapel at Les Vauxbelets, a miniature model of the grotto at
Lourdes. This building was constructed
in the 1920’s of bits of pottery and seashells.
It is the smallest consecrated Catholic Church in the world and holds
about 12 people inside.
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| Chapel at Les Vauxbelets |
After
driving through the Torveal area, the tour stopped at an authentic Goldsmith
workshop, set in five acres of prized gardens. There is also a running stream
with a small waterfall and beautiful foliage and flowers.
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| Garden with waterfall |
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| Sample of the prized gardens |
After this stop, the
tour continued along the west and north coasts of the island with a stop at the
Guernsey Pearl Cafe for some tea and scones
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| Guernsey countryside |
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| Guernsey cattle |
Both tours returned to the ship in the early afternoon. We had a quick lunch on board and then
tendered back into St. Peter Port to walk around for an hour and a half and do
a little shopping. This was our last
chance to spend free time in the United Kingdom as tomorrow we return to Dover
and will be transferred to Heathrow by coach. Alas, it is time to go home after
33 days of incredible adventurous travel. We will miss the luxury living aboard
the beautiful ship and the great staff we have come to know during these
cruises. We look forward to the next
chapter in our travels.
