Guernsey.

The first sight that you see after leaving the tender at St Peter Port is a stautue of Prince Albert - Consort or as one American was explaining to his wife, “This was before he became King”. Sylvia resisted giving him an English history lesson…just!

Although being much closer to the French coast than to England, Guernsey is very firmly British and has been since William I became King in 1066. There are signs of their Britishness all over the town in their telephone boxes….

and their post boxes.

Although they seem to have a problem with their colours.

The town itself is quite compact with narrow shopping streets, some of which are cobbled, decorated by many pretty flowers.

We made our way through the town towards Candie Gardens which houses the Art Gallery and Museum. I was a little disappointed in the gardens as most of the flowering plants were past their best. I guess this is the price to pay for visting so late in the season. The museum featured a history of the island from ancient times together with an exhibit on the folk and ghost tales of Guernsey. Some grisly exhibits here including some mummified cats!!

The art gallery as well as featuring work from art students had an interesting feature on the artworks of Victor Hugo. The author was exiled to the island for many years and apparently finished “Les Miserables” here. What I didn’t appreciate is that in addition to writing he was a very accomplished artist and the museum had on show many of his works.
As well as featuring a statue of the famous author…..

….the gardens also offer views across the bay where you may just notice our ship.

Dominating the harbour sits Castle Cornet, a fortress that has stood guard over the port for the last 800 years. It is accessed from the town by a long walkway known as the Emplacement above which sits a large cannon that is fired everyday at noon.

The island of Guernsey offers so much more than we could do justice in just one day and is yet another place to add to the list to revisit.
We reboarded the ship and at 5.00 set sail for our next port - Cobh in Ireland taking one last look at the pretty town of St Peter Port.

The Captain announced tonight that there are 3800 passengers on board from 27 different countries so what are the chances of meeting someone you already know? Well tonight we bumped into Sarah Saunders and her husband, friends of Sylvia’s sister Lorna.

Just a little note for Joey, the shore excursions team include a “Timothy”. We haven’t seen him yet and don’t even know if its the same one but I’ll keep you posted.