If you are anything like me, you had no idea where Guernsey was located or to what country it belonged.  Honestly, I didn’t even know it was an island until I searched it.  Guernsey is part of the Channel Islands.  It is associated with England, but it has different money, different postage.  The island of Jersey, which is nearby, also has its own money and postage.  They are interesting places with fascinating histories.  You may know Guernsey if you read The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Peel Pie Society. 

We didn’t anchor until about 1:15.  My husband and I waited until about 2:15 before trying to get on a tender to shore.  It was madness!  We were waiting in line two floors above the gangway.  We finally made it to shore around 3pm.  (The ride only took about ten minutes.)

Apparently in England there is an old tradition of closing stores on Wednesdays since many people work on Saturdays and they want a five day work week.  Guernsey still practices this tradition. Therefore, we were unable to check out several museums including Victor Hugo’s house.  However, Castle Cornet was open and that is where we really wanted to explore. 

We walked about half a mile around the bay to get to the castle. It was a chilly day with a bit of wind.  It was a refreshing walk.  The castle is not really what I would consider a castle.  It was more of a fortress, even though the governor of the island used to live there. 

You go to the ticket/gift shop building first. They were selling puffin things so I asked if they had puffins on the island.  They do not anymore, but other islands nearby do and you can even watch them online live!  The tickets were 12 euros a person.  They have three different museums on site and you can walk all over exploring.  

We decided to climb to the highest points first. There are some incredible views, beautiful flowers, and neat little nooks and crannies to explore. 

They still had quite a few cannons on the property.  They fire one every day at noon in uniform and you can watch.  

We could hear this very distinctive bird call and we finally found the birds making it. 

I love exploring castles and fortresses.  We checked out all three museums.  One focused on aircrafts, one had many uniforms and weapons, and one was the history of the castle. The governor stopped living in the castle because a lightning strike hit the gunpowder storage and exploded and killed his wife and mother.  His children miraculously escaped unharmed.  

We walked by this pool of water on the way to the castle and found it was quite shallow, which is perfect to teach children how to sail. 

The buildings and streets were beautiful and I enjoyed walking around.  We stopped briefly in the church and checked out a few stores.  

We even tried some Guernsey milk. Guernsey cows are quite famous and many souvenirs feature them prominently. 

The church in Guernsey is the closest to a bar in the world. You can see that the gargoyle is almost touching it!

I wonder how different the town would be on a day in which all the stores were open. I would have loved to explore more.  There is a bus that can take you around the island that takes about an hour and a half.  I heard other people talking about it and they said some streets were quite narrow.  It would be a fun thing to do if we returned.  I would also love to see the church with all the tiling, Victor Hugo’s house, and the art museum.