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 |
 |
| 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 |
 |
| 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment