If it’s Wednesday, this must be Barbados, a densely populated island nation bordered on the west by the Caribbean Sea and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. More than 280,000 souls call this 21 mile long island home, with 110,000 of them living in Bridgetown, the capital.
One look over the railing of your cruise ship tells you that Bridgetown is nothing like the smaller, walkable capitals of the Dutch ABC islands. The pier is a sprawling industrial hive of activity, with container ship straddle carriers buzzing this way and that, stacking or otherwise moving the large cargo containers around. Cruise passengers are directed safely around the busy working area and funneled into a small, indoor shopping building, before emerging into the city proper. However, there doesn’t appear to be anything of interest to the casual tourist within easy walking distance. Bridgetown is a big, spread out city, and this is one place where it’s probably better to book a beach day or island excursion than to set out on foot to explore on your own.
We booked an island tour, and I can’t say that all of it was riveting, though we did take in some beautiful scenery and actually saw a mongoose. Among our stops were an old Anglican Church, the Farley Hill National Park (high on a hill, nice views), a gorgeous beach, and a restaurant where we were afforded the opportunity to sample some genuine Barbados rum. More about rum in a minute, but first a word about Barbadian roads. Once you leave Bridgetown, the island’s roads are narrow, twisting and rough, with a lot of steep ups and downs and blind curves. Tour bus drivers deal with the need to use all of the road on these narrow, blind curves by simply laying on their horn as they approach the curve to warn oncoming drivers to watch out. It’s a little unnerving, but it seems to work, as we survived the tour in one piece.
Now to rum. Barbados is home to the world’s first rum distillery, the Mount Gay Rum Distillery, founded in 1703 and still in operation. As a service to my readers I felt compelled to sample and provide a review of this signature symbol of Barbadian pride, and I can safely report that the industry’s prospects are excellent for the foreseeable future.
Tomorrow we visit Grenada, an island that older readers may remember was of some interest to President Ronald Reagan in 1983. Then we turn south and begin our journey down the east coast of South America, where my excitement level will certainly rise. Stay tuned. The adventure is just beginning.
The view of Bridgetown’s pier from our ship. The orange contraptions in the front of the photo are used to lift and move the large containers to and from cargo ships. The city is in the background, and as you can see, it’s not especially walkable.
Barbados is now a fully independent nation, but the British influence remains strong, as you can see from this mailbox in the cruise terminal.
At Farley Hill National Park. You can’t really tell from this photo, but we’re up pretty high, and the beach in the background is waaay down below us.
There may be beaches with more sand, but you’d be hard pressed to find one as gorgeous as this.
Another shot of this stunning Barbadian beach. As you can see from the surf, this beach is on the Atlantic side of the island. There’s a little surfing on this side of the island, but not much swimming. The water on the Caribbean side of the island is much calmer, and that’s where most of the swimming beaches are.
Couldn’t resist getting a photo of ourselves here. It really was a pretty spot.
The things I do for my readers. Barbados is home to the world’s first and oldest rum distillery, and I couldn’t leave in good conscience without investigating this signature Barbadian product and reporting back. As you can see from my expression, the industry is in fine shape.
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