Starting Out in St Peter Port (5/4/25)

Where are we exactly? I often need to remind myself. Bob and I are currently in Guernsey, the second largest of the Channel Islands and located 27 miles from the coast of Normandy. The island has a land area of 24 square miles.

Guernsey is administered as part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a self-governing dependency of the British crown. It is not part of the United Kingdom. The island’s parliament and government is the States of Guernsey, and it has one town, St. Peter Port, where our current housesit is located.

Some fun facts about Guernsey that you may or may not know. While the island’s current largest industry is financial services, it is known for its cattle. Guernsey cattle are a breed of dairy cattle,and we passed a large dairy on the way in from the airport.

Guernsey was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II. After 5 years of occupation, it was liberated on May 9, 1945, which is still celebrated as Liberation Day here.

Finally (at least until we learn more), the author Victor Hugo spent 15 years in exile on Guernsey, where he wrote “Les Miserables” among other of his works.

Since we are located in a small cul-de-sac type residential area, we got our first taste today of downtown St. Peter Port by walking about 30 minutes to their High Street to see their Old Town area and a bit of the harbor.

If you’ve hung on through all of that, the pics from today are below.

Space is at a premium on the island.
Typically only one side of the street has a sidewalk,
and the sidewalk is usually just wide enough for one person.

A corner cafe on the way down into the town center,
which meant a fairly steep uphill back to the house.

The Arcade Building that houses the Visitors Center
and other businesses

We stopped into the unassuming Guille-Alles Library and learned some information about its history as well as more about the German invasion of Guernsey during WWII.

The library founded in 1882 by Thomas Guille and Frederick Alles, who grew up together in Guernsey and made their fortune
in interior decorating in New York.

The library is one of the official stops on Guernsey’s Liberation Trail in celebration of their 80th year of liberation. There are 10 stops on the trail that we stumbled onto. The library stop is #7 called a Dark Chapter. One room of the library tells the story of the 2,500 Channel Islanders who Hitler ordered to be sent to internment camps, mostly in Germany. Individuals interned were those who were non-native Channel Islanders and specifically those born in England. The exhibit discussed what life was like in the camps, the resilience of those who endured them, and the history of the library during the occupation. It was an interesting exhibit.