St Peter Port, Guernsey - The shooting starts every day at precisely 12 noon. From the ancient harbour fortress of Castle Cornet, the sound of cannon fire reverberates through the alleyways of St Peter Port. The midday cannon firing ceremony has a firm place in the daily life of Guernsey's main town and serves to underscore the proud independence of this holiday paradise in the English Channel.
The Channel Islands consist of bustling Jersey, Guernsey with lively St Peter Port, the islets of Alderney and Herm along with eccentric little Sark, one of Europe's last feudal outposts.
Viktor Hugo (1802-1885) once referred to the archipelago in St. Malo Bay as a "chunk of France which fell into the water and was picked up by England." The "picking up" occurred in the 13th Century when England was forced to concede Normandy to the French.
Encouraged by the promise of being allowed to conduct their affairs largely unhindered, the island rulers sought the protection of the English crown.
The basis of what makes the Channel Islands so unusual remains to this day. They are a set of territories which do not belong to Britain and are not part of the European Union either.
The islands are tax havens for their inhabitants and investors from all over the world. Tourists sample the advantages in the duty free shops and perfumeries.
The prices in the restaurants and hotels are scarcely discernable from those in Britain. Whether to stay on Alderney, Herm, Sark or one of the larger islands is a matter of taste.
An excursion to Sark is however a must. Around 45 minutes after leaving St Peter Port, visitors are transported into another world. Sarah la Trobe greets newcomers with the words: "Welcome to one of the last feudal kingdoms in Europe."
The owner of Sark's smallest pony and trap will not be able to greet her guests in this way for very much longer. In line with the result of a referendum among the 600 island dwellers, an elected parliamentary democracy will soon be in charge of Sark's affairs.
Yet as long as the elected representatives do not opt for another form of government, the seigneur of Sark remains the head of state. His privileges include the sole right to breed pigeons, to keep unsprayed female dogs and to levy a fee when anyone sells a piece of land.
The culinary character of the islands is a mixture of French cuisine and hearty pub fare while accommodation ranges from camping sites to up-market hotels and holiday apartments surrounded by "typically British gardens."
Excursions lead to rocky cliffs such as Moulin Huet Bay which was captured on canvas by Renoir. There are also trips to prehistoric remains such as burial chambers and druid altars.
The more recent past has left its mark too: The German Wehrmacht used up more than half a million cubic metres of concrete building an array of bunkers, forts and underground command centres. It would be too expensive to tear down these wartime relics and so they have been left to gradually revert to nature. Some are used as museums and observation platforms.
The monstrous reminders of the past go well with another quintessentially British aspect of these islands - ghosts.
"Of course we have got ghosts," said Peter de Sausmarez. Anyone who spends the night at his home of Sausmarez Manor "is bound to bump into one of the nannies of my forefathers," he claims. Fortunately the spirits on the island are as harmless as the Guernsey cows which are renowned for their particularly creamy milk.
Internet: www.jersey.com, www.visitguernsey.com, www.sark.info, www.visitalderney.com, www.visitbritain.co.uk.
