Beautiful Barbados

 

Although we have only been to Barbados in the summer, it has an appeal throughout the year. The Caribbean is known for hurricanes but it is very rare for one to hit Barbados.

Barbados is a relatively flat coral island with an abundant supply of large gradually sloping beaches.

All beaches on the island of Barbados are considered "public", although some are harder to get to than others!

Over 79 miles of beautiful white and pink sand beaches await you on the island of Barbados – come on in, the water’s great!

Crane Beach
My personal favorite, of course, is the Crane Beach. 

Set on 40 acres of oceanfront land in the parish of St. Philip on the Southeast Coast of Barbados, The Crane is the island's oldest vacation resort. Conveniently located just six minutes east of Grantley Adams International Airport, the resort boasts a spectacular natural setting on a cliff overlooking the renowned Crane Beach. The Crane was recently awarded a Four Diamond rating from the Automobile Association of America (AAA). Today, The Crane is comprised of the original historic hotel building, built in the late 1700's and expanded in 1887, and a new all-suite development. Seven of ten phases of The Crane's new development are complete. On completion of the development, this world-class report will also feature a Bajan village offering retail shops, bar 1812, art gallery and museum; a full-service spa set in a coconut grove on the beach, a choice of gourmet and casual restaurants and flood-lit tennis courts. www.thecrane.com

Originally a harbor, Crane Beach is located at the famous Crane Hotel, and has been voted one of the ten best beaches in the world by "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". Bigger waves make it good for body surfing, but in the cove to the left there is safe swimming close to shore.

You will have to walk down to the beach or take the new elevator down the cliff.  There is a charge for parking, waived if you have lunch at one of the restaurants.

Nearby, about half a mile to the south is Foul Bay.  Despite it’s name (it just meant that it was hard for ships to make harbor) this is a spectacular beach that is usually quiet. There are no facilities, so it is best to take your own food and drink. A great place for a day picnic.

Bottom Bay

 Just north of the famed Sam Lord’s Castle, this bay is surrounded by high coral cliffs, and is the perfect beach postcard with lots of coconut trees, crystal turquoise water, and a large expansive beach area. It has medium waves, slight undertow, and a  favorite picnic spot with Bajans and visitors.

Take your own food and drink as facilities are not nearby. A very popular beach for surfers but beach lovers will find lots of secluded spots.

 

Sam Lord's Castle is closed now but has been bought by another hotel company and should reopen...sometime.

Sam Lord was a pirate way back but not the kind that went to sea. He stayed at home, in his castle (pictured left), and put lights on the coconut trees so ships would think that they were near Bridgetown. They came close, crashed on the cliffs and Sam added to his treasure.

Church Point 

A very special beach, clean, not very wide and somewhat sheltered, the waters are almost always placid with no undertow and good snorkeling. This beach is in front of the stunning coral stone Heron Bay House, which is almost as beautiful to view as the pristine beach it looks upon.

Heron Bay has hosted many famous guests, including former US President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, and several movie stars. The house was built in 1947 by the late Ronald Tree, a member of the Winston Churchill British Cabinet.

The house is set on 20 acres of manicured gardens, including a small lake, and the property is often opened as part of the Barbados National Trust's annual Open House Programme.

Long Beach                                                                
Long Beach stretches for more than a mile and is very flat and narrow, a great find since it is secluded and private. The nearby long Beach Club has facilities here but this is a fairly private setting.

Long Beach is situated in a natural environment. The buildings that are visible from the beach are a blend of period and modern properties and very attractive. The natural beach environment consists of rocks and cliff faces and is stunningly beautiful.

The sand is very fine and has a bright, white color and the beach and water are very clean. The seawater is a beautiful shade of light blue and is crystal clear. 

The beach can only be reached by climbing a trail / by walking downhill. However, parking is available near the beach.

Dover Beach

Lying at the Southern end of the St. Lawrence Gap ’strip’ this is a popular beach among visitors to the south coast. Medium waves and a number of facilities close by add to its appeal.

This is charter-holiday territory, where families mingle on the sands with a procession of brides and grooms searching for that ultimate Caribbean wedding photo.

Cattlewash

  This by far the longest beach on the island. It’s rough and rugged splendor make it a popular sightseeing and relaxing spot. It is several miles long and very often deserted. It is a perfect location for nature lovers.

This beach is a little north of Bathsheba and is a frequent “sight” on sight seeing tours. Its name defines it’s original function.

This area is a very popular get-away spot for Bajans, especially during the summer months. Although it is a very scenic and relaxing area, there are strong currents in the area and swimming in open water is not recommended. There are however many pools, surrounded by rocks where one can bathe safely.

Bath
There is usually a lifeguard and there are parking, changing, picnic and eating facilities. Medium to small waves and slight undertow close to shore make this a good swimming beach. 

Bath Beach is the perfect swimming beach, and there are plenty of shady trees to relax under with a picnic lunch.  There are no restaurants here, but changing rooms are provided.

 

Mullins Bay

This is another popular hangout, a picturesque bay with a nice, placid beach almost all year round. Plenty of facilities, from parking and eating, Mullins are also a very good snorkeling area.  Located in a cove, the water is always calm, and crystal clear.

You'll find plenty of places to eat, especially Mullins Beach Bar, and parking is provided across the street. Beach chairs are available for rent.

 

Folkstone Beach

There are many water-related activities, along with fresh water showers and shops. There is an interpretive centre and museum. The underwater park zone extends from Sandy Lane to Colony Club and you can rent snorkeling equipment around the fringe reef, or hire a boat for diving.

 

 

 

Sandy Lane Bay

The beach of Sandy Lane, the island’s most opulent resort is home to Villas on the beach, Barbados. This is a long, wide beach which is in pristine condition and well-maintained. Quite literally it can be a VIP spotting beach with many a celebrity holidaying here.

It's our favourite Caribbean destination for good reason – there's more to this island than sun, sea and sand. Kate Simon offers a guide.

The accommodation

The hot news from the east coast is the reopening of the Atlantis Hotel (atlantishotelbarbados.com). The venerable seaside lodgings have been turned into a stylish 10-room property by the team behind Little Good Harbour.

Further south on this coast, The Crane (thecrane.com) has expanded from the original 18-room hotel into a veritable village of 180 luxury suites. On the south coast at St Lawrence Gap, the all-inclusive Almond Casuarina Beach Resort (almondresorts.com) has had a revamp, adding 95 sea-facing rooms and a shorefront pool.

The activities

Any self-respecting surfer should try their luck in the Soup Bowl off the east coast at Bathsheba. This world-class break, which hosts international championships, can be surfed year round. But Barbados isn't all about the beach or the sea. Go inland to find more thrills at the Barbados Aerial Trek Zipline Adventures (00 246 433 8966) at Walkes Spring Plantation, which whizzes across 100ft-deep Jack-in-the-Box Gully. And, of course, Barbados is well supplied with polo fields, a sport first played here by British cavalry officers. The most famous ground is Holders, but others under construction include a new one at Apes Hill Club (apeshillclub.com), the latest addition to the island's portfolio of private estates.

The urban scene

The lively capital, Bridgetown, with its busy shops and harbour full of leisure craft, reveals the well-heeled nature of this island. This is also home to the third oldest parliament in the world and National Heroes Square, with its statue of Nelson that predates the one in London's Trafalgar Square. Also call by Holetown, where the British first settled, and see the once neglected Speightstown, the first major port, which is now being given a makeover.

The beaches

This island's exclusive image is largely down to its "Platinum Coast" on the Caribbean side of the island. Here, you'll find the rich and famous enjoying barefoot luxury on white sands lined with sunloungers set out by the five-star hotels that sit cheek by jowl along this coast. Further south, on the more blustery seafront of St Lawrence Gap, the resort hotels spill out on to golden beaches. This is charter-holiday territory, where families mingle on the sands with a procession of brides and grooms searching for that ultimate Caribbean wedding photo. Over on the east coast, the Atlantic waves keep the atmosphere bracing. It's a joy for surfers, but dangerous for swimmers who should ask a local to show them the safe spots for bathing.

The restaurants

Still the island's top spot for a special meal, The Cliff (thecliffbarbados.com) serves a starry clientele exquisite food in a sublime clifftop setting. At the new Marketfive by John Hazzard (00 246 436 1485), the eponymous chef is creating exciting, contemporary Caribbean dishes in a stylish dining room in the unlikely location of the new Sanjay Bridgetown Centre in the capital. Meanwhile, the Fish Pot (littlegoodharbour barbados.com) at the northern reach of the west coast and Cafe Luna (littlearches.com) at the southern end, both continue to delight with fine food and romantic settings. But for dinner with a touch of fun, join the locals and tourists at Fish Friday in Oistins.

The sights

Don't miss St Nicholas Abbey (stnicholasabbey.com) in St Peter, one of just three Jacobean houses remaining in the Americas. Take a tour of Harrison's Cave (harrisonscave.com) and the extraordinary limestone caverns at Allen View. Look out for the Emancipation Statue – aka Bussa, after the slave leader – which shows a black man breaking his chains. It sits on a roundabout east of Bridgetown.

Compact Facts

How to get there

Kate Simon travelled to Barbados with the Barbados Tourism Authority (visitbarbados.org). Thomas Cook Signature (0844 879 8015; tcsignature.com) offers seven nights' at Tamarind Cove from £1,299 per person, based on two sharing, including return flights with Virgin Atlantic, resort transfers, and B&B.

 

From http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/winter-on-the-beach-barbados-1845578.html

Canwest News Service

"People only come to Barbados to lie on the beach," declares a diminutive blond over rum cocktails on the beach. "Take a hike," say I, meaning it in the nicest possible way. Along with a perfect climate and wonderful beaches, Barbados boasts an English-style National Trust whose sites include 17th-century plantation houses, sugar mills, museums and a 1654 synagogue. Plus, every Sunday the National Trust offers free hikes – a fun way to explore the island.

I was lucky enough to be in Barbados for the Trust's Moonlight Hike, a once- a-month event. Here's how it worked:

At 5:30 p.m., our group – about 60 adults and kids – rendezvous at the St. Thomas Parish post office. Twenty minutes later we've left behind a rural village and its giggling children, who are amused by our twilight parade. On the outskirts we pause to admire exotic crops: cassava, breadfruit, sugar cane, guinea corn, pigeon peas.

Next comes Welchman Hall Gully, named for General William Asygell Williams. Island rumour has it that the shaddock (a.k.a. pomelo) and sweet orange spontaneously produced the world's first grapefruit (though the invention of the grapefruit is also claimed by Jamaica). Overhead, I hear the sound of birds, and ask the man next to me what kind they are. "Bats, actually." Oh.

As green monkeys crash about in the treetops, the group learns that the bitter bark tree yields a malaria treatment called Quashir's Remedy, and that Amerindians used the bark to make insect repellent for their crops. However, the swizzle-stick tree's purpose is obvious.

As darkness falls, National Trust Hike veterans – the ones with the walking sticks – now produce flashlights. Very smart.

On reaching a nutmeg grove, everyone stops and sniffs the spice-scented air – though it's no longer the spice-growing centre it once was.

Emerging from the gully, we loop across fields and meadows under a full moon. At a fence, helpers materialize, opening gates and hoisting us over. Stopping now and then, we examine unusual items such as the red sandalwood seeds that island schoolchildren rub on concrete until they get burning hot. We rest on a hilltop and gaze at the moon, Jupiter, Mars, Orion's Belt. The wind sighs through century-old cabbage palms that produce a delicious fruit, like heart of palm.

Three hours have sped by. Back at the parking lot, we have juice and homemade cakes. Organizers arrange my ride back to the hotel, and friendly voices calling out their goodbyes trail after me down the peaceful hillside.

– For more information, contact barbadosnationaltrust.com; barbados.org.

 

From http://www.kelowna.com/2009/12/04/the-barbados-like-to-hike-with-an-island-paradise-to-explore-theres-no-need-to-waste-time-lazing-about-on-the-beach/

The island in the eastern Caribbean offers sweet rum and coconuts, incendiary peppers and the national symbol -- flying fish -- filleted and fried.

By Janis Cooke Newman

Reporting from Bridgetown, Barbados >>> - I came to Barbados for the flying fish sandwiches.
Not that this small island at the easternmost edge of the Caribbean doesn't offer other attractions. Like perfect weather. And beaches that come in two flavors -- Caribbean, which has a sea that is turquoise and tranquil, and into which the sun sets spectacularly every evening, and Atlantic, where the coastline is rocky and the sand is the color and consistency of cake flour.

Then there are the Barbadians themselves, people who are the very definition of friendly locals. And the fact that 300 years of British rule have left the island with some interesting Anglo-Caribbean quirks, including stone churches straight out of "Jane Eyre" and cricket players with dreadlocks.

Still for me, it was the flying fish sandwiches. And the macaroni pie. And the pepper sauce. Definitely the pepper sauce.

Because in my mind, the most compelling reason to travel anyplace is food. And Zagat -- holy book of the foodie traveler -- has proclaimed Barbados the Culinary Capital of the Caribbean. What I wasn't counting on was that eating one's way through Barbados would turn out to be as much a cultural tour as a culinary one. On Barbados, a healthy (or even obsessive) curiosity about sweet potato mash, coconut water and pig intestines is enough to gain entry into every one of the island's different worlds, from that of well-heeled tourist to the British expat to the born-and-bred Barbadian, or Bajan, as they're also known.
Here, then, are some simple instructions on doing Barbados by food.

Eat it
Every Friday night, the little seaside town of Oistins turns itself into one big barbecue. The food stands raise their awnings, long tables are set up near the beach, and the air fills with over-amplified reggae and the tangy scent of fish marinated in something spicy and slightly vinegary.

Oistins Friday Night Fish Fry is one of those rare events that attracts as many locals as visitors, probably because it's cheap, fun and seriously delicious. Just find a stand where the food looks appetizing, ask a waitperson to seat you at one of the long tables, and order whatever is on the grill.

When you're finished eating, stroll down to Lexie's bar and watch middle-aged Barbadian couples dipping and swirling on the open-air dance floor. (Ballroom dancing is big on Barbados.) Or wander to the opposite end of the street and get a firsthand look at the surprisingly competitive world of Barbadian dominoes. Just follow the sound of slamming tiles.

Tucked on a side street and up a flight of stairs, Mustor's in Bridgetown is the kind of locals' restaurant you always hope to find. It is no more than a big, airy room where the only thing approaching décor is the orangey bottle of pepper sauce on every table. And, really, you don't need anything else.

Place your order with the cashier: flying fish steamed or fried (I recommend fried) or chicken fried or stewed (go with stewed). It comes with macaroni pie (the Bajan version of mac and cheese) and mounds of yams, and rice with pigeon peas, those pale, nut-flavored peas that are a staple of Caribbean cooking. Wash everything down with a local Banks beer or a glass of Bajan-style limeade, which is almost magically sweet and tart at the same time.

If you're looking to up your Bajan cuisine game, try Sweet Potatoes at the entrance of bustling St. Lawrence Gap, the milelong stretch of road crowded with nightclubs and restaurants that cater to tourists. Take a seat under the icicle lights on the open-air porch, and order some examples of what Sweet Potatoes' owners refer to as Good Old Bajan Cooking. Try Mullins Bay bol jol, an insanely good spread of marinated codfish seasoned with herbs and onions. Or Pot Belly Flying Fish, rolled and fried and served in a red pepper sauce. And don't forget cou cou, a Bajan-style polenta made with okra.

If you decide you can't live without some Good Old Bajan Cooking at your house, you can come back for one of the restaurant's cooking classes.

Want to see what an expat British chef with locavore sensibilities cooks on Barbados? Dine at the Terrace at Cobbler's Cove (a small hotel on the northwest coast of Barbados). Bryan Porteus, the chef at the Terrace, is committed to using as many local ingredients as possible. He has planted an herb and lettuce garden across from the hotel and visits the fish market in Bridgetown every day. (Sometimes he even takes guests with him.)

The Cove also employs its own fisherman -- a one-named celebrity called Barker -- whose morning catch turns up on the dinner menu every evening. The result is an entree list that includes bonito with plantain fritters, sesame tempura of Caribbean vegetables, and rack of black belly lamb (a local animal that resembles a sheep and a goat).

Drink it
If you want to be a true Barbadian locavore, you must drink rum. Barbadians have been making rum -- distilled from local sugar cane -- since 1630. And Mount Gay has been making its version nearly as long. It's worth driving a couple of miles north of Bridgetown to take the Mount Gay Rum Factory Tour just for the "blow and breathe" session, which involves sticking your face into a fish bowl of partly distilled rum. This is guaranteed to keep your sinuses open.

Jason Zeddo, Mount Gay's tasting room bartender, says the proper way to taste rum is to first cover the top of the glass with your free hand and "take that fine rum and toss it around." This releases aromas (almond, vanilla, oak) that you can then savor before draining the glass.

If you want to drink rum the way Bajans do, mix it with Coke, which in Barbados is still made with cane sugar (instead of high-fructose corn syrup).
It's a Sunday tradition in Barbados for locals on their way home from church to stop at a roadside coconut vendor and pick up a half-gallon of coconut water to have with Sunday dinner. Coconut water is light and refreshing and only slightly sweet, and Bajans consider it a health drink. (It also mixes beautifully with rum.)

Drive along any major roadway around noontime on a Sunday, and you'll see vendors hacking off the tops of coconuts with machetes. (You will also wonder how they manage to keep all their fingers.) Pick up some coconut water, and while you're there, have the vendor cut open a coconut so you can sample the jelly inside. (It's like eating the liquefied center of a Mounds bar.)

Shop for it
Early every Saturday morning, ex-pats and tourists turn up at the Brighton Farmers Market in St. George to eat fish cakes for breakfast and drink what might be the only great coffee on this tea-centric island. Brighton is the place for locally grown produce and a diversity of prepared foods: curried chicken rotis (Bajan sandwiches), Thai egg rolls and freshly baked bread. It's also the place to sit under an enormous tree, watch the kids run around and socialize.

Saturday morning is the best time to visit the Cheapside Public Market in Bridgetown. Whereas Brighton is mostly ex-pats and tourists, Cheapside is locals. Under the arches of its open-roofed building, you'll find plenty of Bajan staples: black fist-shaped yams, green scaly skinned breadfruit, baskets overflowing with incendiary Scotch bonnet peppers (which Bajans pop like candy).

Express any amount of ignorance about how to prepare your purchase, and next thing you know a Barbadian grandmother will be hacking at your breadfruit with a large knife and explaining how long to boil it.

Cook it yourself
Seemingly all Barbadians are willing to teach visitors how to cook Bajan-style. Drop into the kitchen of Sweet Potatoes restaurant for one of its one-, two- or three-day classes, and you'll leave with a bottle of Bajan spices and a recipe for (among other traditional dishes) Souse and Pudding, grated sweet potato stuffed into pig intestine and topped with meat from the pig's head and feet.

It tastes better than it sounds.

Anne-Marie Whittaker is a one-woman evangelical movement for Caribbean cooking. Her company, Native Treasures, makes a variety of items -- piña colada jam and Captain Rasta's Revenge pepper sauce -- and she's the author of "Treasures of My Caribbean Kitchen" cookbook.

She also runs custom cooking classes for small groups. If you can't arrange to take one of her classes, you can still make her Bajan pepper sauce at home (without burning your fingers slicing all those Scotch bonnets) by picking up one of her hot pepper sauce kits (just add water and vinegar).

If you're staying at the Crane, a residential hotel on the Atlantic side, you'll probably have a better kitchen in your suite than you do at home. The bonus of this, besides being able to try out your newly acquired breadfruit recipe, is that you can arrange to have Executive Chef Michael Hinds drop by and give you a private cooking class. Hinds, a native Barbadian, studied at the Culinary Institute of America, which gives his Bajan cooking an international slant. In his hands, locally caught reef grouper and peppers and onions from Cheapside Market turn into ceviche. And his recipe for breadfruit calls for slicing it paper thin and deep-frying it until you're left with a stack of crispy (and totally addictive) chips.

At super-swank Sandy Lane hotel on the Caribbean side, Chef Timothy Walker elevates local flying fish to Cordon Bleu status by slathering it with a chiffonade of sweet peppers and onions, coating it with panko flavored with lemon zest and lightly frying it.

Walker's flying fish is a completely different aquatic animal from the flying fish at Mustor's. Which is not to say that they're not equally delicious. The real point is, it's difficult not to love a country that's willing to fry up its national symbol and serve it drenched in pepper sauce.

 

From http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-barbados1-2009nov01,0,5741821.story

Morgan Lewis Mill is located on the top of a beautiful hill in the north eastern part of the island of Barbados. It is one of the two restored sugar mills in the entire Caribbean. The mill commands an excellent view of the amazing east coast. The mill is located near the Wildlife Reserve and Bathsheba. The Morgan Lewis Mill serves as a refreshment halt where ice creams and cool drinks are available. The mill which is maintained by the Barbados National Trust exhibits the equipment used to produce sugar when mills were run by wind-generated mills.

Morgan Lewis Mill, which has undergone a lot of restoration work undertaken by the Barbados National Trust, is one of the oldest mills in this area. This large mill which functioned during the 17th to 19th centuries and produced sugar for Barbados was famous throughout the world and is still intact. Photographs of   the mills during it’s hey days can be seen within the mill. The mill has been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the yesteryears, Barbados was famous for its sugarcane cultivation and there were a number of windmill operated sugarcane crushing units. The immense number of sugar mills put Barbados on the world map and it was one of the prominent producers and exporters of sugar. This mill is called a Dutch-style mill and these types of mills replaced the older and less efficient cattle-powered mills. The Morgan Lewis Mill had the capacity to extract 65% of the sugar found in the sugar cane.  The yokes and ladles and other implements for sugar extraction can be seen at the mill.

This mill which was constructed in the year 1727 continued to function and produced sugar till 1945. It was then donated to the Barbados National Trust in the year 1962. The trust undertook restoration work which commenced in 1964, but the restoration could not be done in totality. Restoration of the mill was taken up again in 1974, but it was not successful and deteriorated again. It was then listed as one of the world’s most endangered heritage sites. The United Kingdom undertook a 2-year restoration program and could bring back the Morgan Lewis Mill to its original splendor. Visitors who visit the mill have to pay a nominal entrance fee and where they can still see the roundhouse, tail tree, and points.

Do you know that this is the only fully intact sugarcane grinding windmill remaining on Barbados? You can see ruins of hundreds of sugar mills throughout the island. Would you like to know how the mill functioned in those days? You should then visit the island between the periods from February to April. The mill operates one Sunday a month during this period. In 1996, the Morgan Lewis Mill was listed as one of the world’s 100 most endangered historic sites.

Every visitor to Barbados should definitely undertake a trip to the Morgan Lewis Mill which provides visitors with an excellent opportunity to know and learn about Barbados’ heritage and the history of sugar production.

 

From http://www.world-travel-deals.co.uk/caribbean/barbados/barbados-attractions/morgan-lewis-mill.html

I'm so glad that Jet Blue is flying to Barbados now.  They're my favorite airline!  And Lisa stayed at The Crane - my home in Barbados :) 

Watch her video for good looks at The Crane, Grantley Adams airport, steel drummers, stilt walkers, Bathsheba, Champers restaurant and much more.

From http://www.tangodiva.com/blog/2009/10/10/barbados-bliss/

Barbados Bliss!

October 10th, 2009 by Lisa Loverro

This past week I had the opportunity to fly on Jet Blue’s inaugural flight into their newest non-stop destination from New York City: The island of Barbados.

The celebration surrounding their inaugural flight was nothing short of spectacular. From steel drum music, breakfast buffet and ribbon cutting ceremony at their JFK Terminal departure gate, the atmosphere at the airport was more like a Caribbean celebration for all the lucky customers waiting to board. Once airborne, the party continued with raffles and prizes along with rum cake and the unofficial drink of the island, Mount Gay Rum. Upon the plane’s arrival, fire trucks “christened” the plane with an arch of water. How beautiful! Check out my video of the celebration along with a tour of the island!

I was immediately awestruck by Barbados. Charming and sophisticated, Barbados is an island filled with friendly people, lush, tropical landscape and white-sand beaches. From zip lining to surfing, the activities here are endless. My trip included a stay at the Crane Resort, home to one of the sexiest beaches in the world (according to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous). The island is filled with nightlife but on Friday night Barbados throws the biggest party in the Caribbean at Oistin’s fish fry. Bring your appetite and your dancing shoes to this party!

Accommodations range from the relaxed and comfortable Crane to the very posh Sandy Lane. There are also numerous villas available to rent. Check out Landmark House and Cottage, accommodating 8 persons and built primarily from local coralstone, the stylish villa lies on the northern end of the Sandy Lane Beach.

What a pleasant flight and relaxing stay! If only every flight could be an inaugural one…

September 18, 2009 by Phil Stilton

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Bridgetown, Barbados -  Just south of Bridgetown in Barbados, you’ll find one of the nicest stretches of beaches in the Caribbean from Carlisle Bay to Needham Point.  Mixed in these beautiful and picturesque beaches, you’ll find Charles Fort on the grounds of the Barbados Hilton.

The fort was built in 1650 by the British Navy to protect the capital of Bridgetown and Carlisle Bay from attack by Pirates, Spaniards and whoever else might have come by to take the Island away from the British.     

After years of neglect, the fort has been restored into a historical eco park of sorts.  A brick lined walkway was constructed that winds through the ramparts and overlooks of the fort, passing by 24 cannons that have been retrieved from the seas in one of the most picturesque settings you can find in the Caribbean.

Nearby you can also find Anns fort which was built in the early 1700’s to compliment Charlesfort.    The fort lies next to the new Barbados Hilton.   You can make an entire day out of Charles Fort and Anns Fort by adding a hotel day pass at the Hilton in which you can use their pools, spas and facilities while spending time at the fort.

Hint for parents:  If you plan on visiting the forts of Caribbean, bring some pirate attire for the children.  A bandana, eyepatch and plastic saber would do the trick and make it an enjoyable exeperience they’ll never forget.  Otherwise, they’re just being forced to look at a bunch of old junk with mom and dad.

About Cruise News Network & Tropical Ports
Tropical Ports is home of the world’s only interactive online Cruise Ship Tracking software.  Cruise News Network is a family travel blog.

 

From http://www.jacksonnjonline.com/2009/09/18/things-to-do-in-barbados-charles-fort-cannon-walk-at-the-barbados-hilton/