Travel Guide to Jersey

RHYS BOWEN: As you know by now, I have been on the other side of the pond this week. But no longer actually in England. I am in Jersey (old Jersey, one of the Channel Islands). A first time visit for me. We decided to visit because it was one of the places we had never been. Also it's one of the places that John's eccentric and wandering grandmother once lived.

And it's been fascinating. So many things I didn't know: for example: it is not part of the British Isles. It is self ruled, not governed from Westminster. Although it's just 14 miles from the French coast it has been British since William the Conquerer came over in 1066. And yet all the place names and surnames are French. Some people still speak the old patois.  The feeling, however, is completely British. No pain auchocolat but good old fish and chips. And all the British shops.

Most of us knew that the Channel Islands were occupied by the Nazis in WWII, but it has been chilling to see the visible clues to that occupation: bunkers, gun placements and the tunnels--miles of them dug with slave labor from Eastern Europe. I've picked up several locally written books with tales of bravery, heroism and betrayal. These stories have made me wonder what I would have done to survive? Stolen bread and risked getting shot? Betrayed a neighbor for extra food? Hidden an escaped prisoner of war? People did all of these and many paid with their lives. 

One story showed the islands spirit. They were all required to hang out white flags of surrender as the army invaded. Some people chose to hang out their white undergarments!  The occupation is obviously still very present in the collective memory of the island. The main square is Liberation Square. Buses go from the Liberation terminal. There's a Liberation statue and a Liberation Tree memorial. 

The island's history has been fascinating, including the largest neolithic passage tomb in Europe. I started to go down that passage in total darkness but confess that I retreated about halfway. There's the little chapel on a rock where St Helier (after whom the main town in named) lived as a hermit in the middle of the bay.

There are plenty of castles, built over the centuries, and the bus that goes out to Elizabeth Castle sometimes turns into a boat.

Another fascinating thing is the tides--some of the biggest in the world. At one point the bay is entirely covered in sea, two hours later it's all sand. And so my head is buzzing with story ideas--cut off by the tide, German occupation, etc etc.... there may be a book here!

And so my head is buzzing with story ideas--cut off by the tide, German occupation, etc etc.... there may be a book here!