After some research I discovered that it is a small English island in the English Channel, much closer to France than to England, so small that you can easily drive from east to west in less than one hour.
No sunbathing and cocktails on the beach though: the island of Jersey has a typically British climate, castles, lighthouses and colorful marinas.
The sea retreats at times though, allowing long walks on the muddy beaches.
Furthermore, it seems that the island is quite bike-friendly, thanks to the numerous paths dedicated to cyclists.
I was firmly convinced that I wanted to tour the whole island by bicycle, but upon landing I realized that doing it in a single weekend with the expectation of seeing everything is not possible: the island is much larger than I had imagined with its hinterland roads that connect the various towns and have no street lights, so after sunset they are shrouded in pitch darkness.
First I visited the beach: that clear sand and such clean water were truly unexpected surprises, with those colorful houses overlooking the sea.
Walking along the pier you arrive at a platform complete with showers, changing rooms, a sunbathing area, and steps to go down to the sea.
When we headed to the south-west coast of the island to visit the bay there, we saw a long, wide and clean beach, whose signs of high and low tide can be clearly seen on the large spaces of wet sand before reaching the shore.
The beautiful flowered promenade and the lifeguards with surfboards on the beach made me feel like we had ended up in California.
The Fishermen Chapel is a small chapel nestled on a hill and overlooking the sea and dating back to the early centuries of Christianity, when it was normal for a community, or a wealthy local family, to fund a chapel, where a priest was paid to pray and keep the devil - pun intended - at bay.
The name of the chapel has no clear origins: it was thought to derive from the fishing guilds of the island, but it is also possible that the ‘pecheurs’ (fishermen in French) are an alteration of ‘péchés’ (sinners in French).
The northern coast of Jersey is windy and rugged, with high cliffs overlooking the sea along which some breeds of birds nest and I have read that between Spring and Summer you can even spot some puffins.
The castle was built around 1330, around the time the Hundred Years' War began, with the aim of providing local farmers with a place to take refuge from French attacks.
What remains of Grosnez Castle today is the entrance door and some walls.
Additionally, there are stairs leading from the rear of the castle to a small automatic signal station, built in 1806 to send naval signals to the nearby island of Guernsey and the station platform offers beautiful panoramic views.
We also visited St.Aubin where you can walk from the beach to the castle during the low tide.
We then walked around St.Helier, the capital of Jersey, explored on a sleepy and sunny Sunday afternoon.
The capital is obviously very small and quaint but one can see the windows of the colorful shops on King Street, the boats lying placidly in the harbour, the traders slowly cleaning and preparing to early closing on Sunday.
We arrived in Royal Square, scene of the famous Battle of Jersey in 1781, the last attempt by French troops to conquer the island: that day the British troops fought a short and ferocious battle against the French here, from which they emerged victorious but bullet holes are still visible on the walls in the square.
Due to the back and forth between the UK and France, Jersey has a mix of English and French culture: all the streets have French names and, in some places, bilingual.
The inhabitants speak English but the old documents are written in French.
It is a place I highly recommend visiting, off the beaten track.
