Day 4 St Helier

After a good nights sleep we had breakfast and decided to spend the day looking around St. Helier.  The town centre is about 15 minutes walk from our hotel.  It has a very large pedestrianized area with many well known international brand shops.  The town has a very French feel about it and many street names are French.  

There are quite a few historical monuments around and lots of reminders of the Nazi occupation in WW2 including many quotations from islanders who survived the war but suffered dreadful conditions during that time.  

There is a statue of a Toad to represent the islanders.  In the Channel Islands people of Jersey are affectionately known as Toads by the French.

Rivoli  Jewellers with revolving clock

Statue of the Toad 

St Helier Town Hall



We had a walk around the indoor market and then made our way to the sea front where we walked along the promenade to Liberation Square.  
Fountain in the Central Market

Fort Regent

One of the many yacht marinas

Steam Clock

Liberation Square



Our plan was to walk along the causeway to Elizabeth Castle which lies about 1 mile off the mainland and can only be reached on foot at low tide.  The causeway was not open until 13:10 so while waiting, we had our lunch in a park and enjoyed the sunshine until we were able to walk across to the Castle.

Elizabeth Castle was built in the 1500's to defend St Helier and various historic figures have lived there including Sir Walter Raleigh.  It was originally the site of the hermitage of St Helier in the 7th century.  It was also used by the Nazis in the 1940s and they built some new structures.  The castle is over a very big area and there are some impressive views around the coast.  We spent a good 2 hours here.

The causeway from St Helier to Elizabeth Castle

The abbey of St Helier at Hermitage Rock

View from Elizabeth Castle

Elizabeth Castle from mainland

We returned to the hotel late afternoon.  Although we were able to book a table for dinner at the hotel, the only options were 2 or 3 course dinners which were too much for us.  We took a walk into St Helier and found a lovely Italian restaurant where we had an excellent meal.



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