Tuesday, December 12, 2023

West Indies Adventure: St George's, Grenada (12/12/2023)

Tuesday, December 12, 2023
We began with the included shore excursion, Panoramic Country and Coastal Scenic Drive.
Everyone has a quip about the place people
are dying to get into... (Cemetery Hill)
A view down on the Carénage (left) and harbor
(above) with the Viking Sea
Mountainside quarried for stone
Parliament (2010) of Antigua & Barbuda; the sovereign
country gained independence in 1981, and is a
member of the Commonwealth of Nations
(the adjective British was dropped in 1949)
View of HM/His Majesty's Prison (1880)
from Morne Jaloux Ridge
I will note here that five of the islands we were to visit (Grenada, Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, and St Lucia) specifically prohibit the wearing or display of camouflage, which is only for their own members of the polie or military to wear. In most cases, they will confiscate the offending items., otherwise there are hefty fines and jail time.
View of St George's Inner Harbour
Calivigny Island is a private luxury island retreat,
which you could rent for your own use
($148,500/night for 40 guests)
Nearby is Hog Island, which is open to the rest of us
Sheep are used to trim the grass (rememberthat tails up
are goats and tails down are sheep!)
This ewe had twin lambs
We spent a lot of time watching the sheep, as we
waited for a replacement bus due to ours having
two flat tires (of the pair of right-side wheels)
The buses we would use in the islands are called Coaster
buses (named after a Toyota model), and boarding is on the
other side, since we would now be driving on the left
Low income area with wooden houses
Sugar Hill Roundabout weathervane?
St George's University started as a School of Medicine
in 1976-1977, where many students were from the USA;
the presence of these Americans was the reason given
by President Reagan for invading Grenada (along with
six other Caribbean nations) in 1983 to restore democracy,
triggered by strife within the People's Revolutionary
Government who had seized power in 1979
Drive-by view of the Maurice Bishop International Airport,
which was being constructed in 1983 and was where the
US Army Rangers landed to secure the unfinished airport
Memorial (2017) to Cuban Martyrs (24) who were killed
while working on the airport during the US invasion
Memorial (1986) to express the gratitude of the
Grenadian people to the forces from the United States and
the Caribbean, especially to those who lost their lives
in the 1983 liberation of Grenada
Christmas decorations at the Prickly Bay Marina,
where we were offered a free drink, either
a rum punch, fruit juice, or soft drink
Prickly Bay Marina
The jumble of Coaster buses in the parking lot,
each bringing a group of tourists for their free drink
Next stop at Quarantine Point for a distant view
back to St George's across the Grand Anse Bay
The point was once the location of a hospital used to isolate patients of smallpox, yellow fever, malaria, and other communicable diseases common in the region at the time.
Closer was the Grand Anse Beach, a two-mile stretch
of white sand considered to be one of the most
beautiful beaches in the Caribbean
Kimpton Kawana Bay appears unfinished
and abandoned, as its construction was halted
by the government in 2021; now the
government is to take over the project and
complete it, and the developer may seek
compensation from the Government of Grenada
We returned to the Vikng Sea for lunch
Fort George (1705) is now the main police station,
so we decided not to climb the stairs to get closer
Instead, we joined other pedestrians to
walk through Sendall Tunnel (1895),
a shortcut through the hill of Fort George
The former Antilles Hotel (1704, as French military barracks)
is now the Grenada National Museum, under renovation
The House of Chocolate, which we will visit later
Fishing boats along the Carénage, the part of the harbor
where once ships were grounded at high tide, so that at low
tide the hull was exposed for careening/cleaning and repair
Another view of the Carénage
Christ of the Deep (1961) was given to the
people of Grenada by the Italian Costa Line,
indicating appreciation for assistance rendered when
the ship Bianca C caught fire offshore and sank
Marryshow House (1917, in a mix of Colonial and Creole
styles) was the first building made with cast-concrete
in St George's, built for Theophilus A Marryshow,
a Grenadian statesman and advocate of West Indies unity;
now a center for the University of the West Indies,
headquartered in Barbados
The rainy season requires large street gutters
to handle water coming off the mountains
Immaculate Conception Cathedral (1884 on the
site of 1804 chapel, with an 1818 tower)
York House (1770s), the former
Parliament building until it was
destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004
Looking down the steep block of Market Street,
which we had driven in the Coaster bus
The Priory (late 1770s with alterations, 1917 renovation)
began as the Presbytery for the Catholic Dominican order (KSS)
St George's Anglican Church (1825, meticulously
restored after Hurricane Ivan in 2004) has a clock
that kept on ticking through the hurricane
St Andrew's Presbyterian Kirk/Church
(1831-1833) where only the clock tower
survived Hurricane Ivan in 2004
The Hospital Shuttle is sponsored by Burial Society,
or is it the shuttle for the Burial Society?!
A local sets up her produce on a window ledge
St George's Market
This is how spices are sold in the tourist market
This is how spices are sold in the local market
Vendor booth of miscellanea
Spices and local produce; the vendor is cutting the red aril/
seed covering of nutmeg, from which is made mace
Toys
We can see the rebuilding of the church (2021)
of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
While Kent ran to the  post office to mail postcards,
Tamiko was wrangled by a local, Jimmy, who thanked
us for liberating his country when he was the age of
fourteen, and he encouraged us to see the movie
Heartbreak Ridge, about the invasion of Grenada
Jimmy insisted on taking Tamiko's picture
by the mural of Sendall Tunnel, replicating 
the time when only females could go
through the tunnel and males had to climb
up to Fort George to get to the other side
Jimmy escorted us to the House of Chocolate and
assisted the demonstrator in showing us the process
of harvesting cacao, and making chocolate
The House of Chocolate represents the six chocolate
factories on the island; although Grenada has exported cacao
since 1714, they only started producing chocolate in 1999
Chocolate pasta
Next: Bridgetown, Barbados.

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