Wednesday Travel Adventure - Cows, Potato Peel Pie & WWII #travel #prizedrawing

The July cruise kicked off out of Southampton, England arriving the next morning in the Channel Islands with a port of call in Guernsey. We had signed up for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society tour which ended up being more than about the book.

On the tender heading for the port of St. Peter on Guernsey

As we bumped along in a 1953 bus, we coved the highlights in the book set on the island and our tour guide pointed out the discrepancies in the book. 

The luxury coach---fun, but bumpy ride

 She also made a game of spotting a Guernsey cow. Did you know the only milk and butter that can be sold on the island has to be from their cows…no imported dairy for them. We made a stop at a small café to sample said product, and yes, I can vouch for yummy. The milk is nice and rich with a hit of sweet, the golden yellow butter so rich and creamy it is probably good I don’t live on the island. Butter isn’t something I consume much of these days, but there…hmmm, think I'd be in trouble.

Guernsey cow

Along the drive around the island, while our drive avoided the mad bicyclists that are abundant in the area, our guide also shared some of its history, including the WWII German occupation. The Channel Islands were the only area of the British Commonwealth to be occupied by the Nazis. Guernsey, as I’m sure the other islands, suffered.

In 1940, before the Germans arrived most of the young men had left to join the British army, but most of the children were evacuated to England and Scotland. A good thing, since as the war drug on food became a luxury. The German soldiers had no problem taking what they wanted and letting the inhabitants fend the best they could. The army established major gun bunkers around the island in an effort to sink ships and shoot down planes flying through the English Channel. The few Jews living on the island were deported to concentration camps in Europe, but several camps were built on the Island to house a lot of the inhabitants used for forced labor in building the bunkers and other things.

One of the hidden gun installiations

A big gun with the ability to shoot several miles.

Loved all the history of Guernsey, but the beauty also impressed me. In fact, this was one of my favorite stops on a two week cruise.

 

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