Stanley, main town on the Falkland Islands, 2500 inhabitants, plus 500 extra on the rest of the Falkland Islands in the southernmost Atlantic Ocean. It is British on the Falklands. A British warm welcome already on the pier, driving on the "wrong side" on the way from harbour to town, British style pubs, even a British telephone booth and not least British humour.
Besides town visits we went on a set of excursions to choose from.
For example a nature walk around the peninsula that forms one half of Stanley's natural harbour. Local experienced guides explained the local and Falkland's typical wild and plant life.
Another tour headed for the Bluff Cove Lagoon. A place set in a wide bay, in former times just with the weekend cottage of a farmer and his family, with the specialty of having about a thousand of breeding pairs of Gentoo penguins around.
Today it is more than a cottage. Land Rovers took us through the rough ice-age sculptured landscape to the lagoon and the penguins.
Since a few years there are even some king penguins that found their place next to the Gentoos.
After a stroll along the beach there was time for not British but Falklandish cookies and cakes. They are served with British tea, or coffee or hot chocolate in a cafe with wonderful view on the high waves that roll onto the sandy beach. And with a bit of luck you can even see penguins in the waves taking the chance of being drifted ashore with them.
After the excursions there was time for a walk in "downtown" Stanley, as well as through the "uptown" streets with their bright and colourful painted houses.
What a pleasant British day far far South.
