Beautiful Barbados

I just love reading news articles about Barbados.

Here's part of an article from http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-caribsave_0524tra.ART.State.Edition1.269573a.html

Barbados

DOUG SWANSON/Special to the DMN

The view from the Blue Orchids Hotel in Worthing, Barbados.

View larger More photos Photo store

You won't find a warmer welcome than here. Toss in miles of white sand beaches, a flourishing restaurant scene, museums and sightseeing, and Barbados is revealed as one of the region's most well-rounded objectives.

Strategies: While posh berths like Sandy Lane get ink for the name-drop crowd, Barbados reaches out to visitors of all budgets, with affordable lodgings along the south coast, east of Bridgetown, the capital. Good beaches, watersports, moderately priced dining and night life are found along the two-mile stretch surrounding pedestrian-friendly St. Lawrence Gap.

The island also has extensive bus transportation (75 cents a trip), particularly along the south and west coasts, so you needn't rent a car.

In low season, use the free Barbados Gourmet Card for a 25 percent discount at more than 20 restaurants ( www.barbadosgourmetcard.com).

Sensible option: Across the street from one of the island's most popular beaches, Southern Surf Beach Apartments is a four-story, 12-room property facing busy Rockley Beach (246-435-6672; www.southernsurfbarbados.com). The apartments will be closed June 21 through July 16 for renovations. The rooms have air conditioning and sea-facing balconies. For a few dollars more, deluxe units add floor space, but note there's no elevator. There's a pool in back but no other facilities. Doubles are $120 to $130, including tax and service ($140 to $150 in winter).

Splurge option: A short walk from St. Lawrence Gap in the Worthing neighborhood, Blue Orchids Hotel is a three-story building hugging the sand (246-435-8057; www.blueorchidsbarbados.com). Its 31 rooms range from studios with kitchens to one- and two-bedroom apartments. Every room boasts an ocean-view balcony, some large enough for dining. There's a small pool, a gym and a restaurant. Many dining options are within walking distance. Doubles start at $123 plus 17.5 percent tax and service ($170 in winter). Check the hotel Web site for specials.

Tourism: 1-800-221-9831; visitbarbados.org

From http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/travelleisure/article/638162

By Jill Wilson
THE CANADIAN PRESS

ROCKLEY BEACH, Barbados - I have been to the stunning north coast, watched the awe-inspiring Atlantic crash and foam on the steep cliffs and been through the animal flower caves.

Enlarge Photo

The Canadian Press

Rockley Beach is one of the jewels of Barbados.

I have frequented the wild and beautiful east coast -- walked on the white sand of the chi-chi Crane beach where Hugh Grant's been known to frolic, had my bathing suit filled with sand as the powerful waves of Bottom Bay dashed me to the ocean floor, wandered around the huge, eerie coral formations of Bathsheba, which look as if a giant deposited them randomly around the shore.

I have visited the west coast, where the turquoise water is so blue that the word "turquoise" seems inadequate and where every beach is a postcard waiting to happen.

I have been to the legendary Friday-night fish fry in Oistins on the south coast, where it seems as if the whole island gathers to eat fresh flying fish or dolphin (mahi-mahi) and macaroni pie, drink Banks beer from sweating bottles that are warm before you finish them and dance the night away to reggae music.

I've been to the Barbados Jazz Festival on Farley Hill, a natural amphitheatre complete with crumbling ruins at the bottom and a panoramic view of the island at the top.

I've seen sharks and barracudas and fed a stingray at Ocean Park aquarium; I've seen green monkeys and haita congas and been attacked by a goose-like creature with a pink horrible beak at the Barbados Animal Reserve.

I've taken the awesome Adventureland 4x4 tour and bumped and banged around the backroads and byways of the island; I've visited the Mount Gay refinery, home of the oldest rum in the world.

In short, I have explored Barbados from top to bottom, so perhaps I can be forgiven, on this latest trip, for doing almost nothing at all.

My friends and I decided that our only desire this time around was to sit and watch the waves at Rockley Beach, our favourite of Barbados' many lovely strips of sand. On calm days, it's perfect for snorkelling, with a well-marked coral reef within easy swimming distance (and lifeguards on duty). On windy days, the surf kicks up enough to allow for some decent boogie boarding or body surfing.

The one concession we made to our plan of lying motionless on deck chairs and frying ourselves to a melanoma-be-damned crisp was to go on a three-hour hike at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning, which turned out to be a significant concession.

These free weekly National Trust hikes set off from a different starting point each week; the goal is to cover most of the island in the course of a year. There are morning and evening hikes, but the 6 a.m. start time allows for at least an hour of cooler weather before the sun begins to beat down.

When we arrived at the marshalling area, we were surprised at the number and variety of people -- it's clearly a regular gathering for local hikers.

There were four levels to choose from: The Stop and Stare, which covers eight to 9.5 kilometres in the three hours; the Slow Medium, which covers 13 to 16 kilometres; the slightly more ambitious Fast Medium and the clearly suicidal Grin and Bear, which leads you on a 19-kilometre trot.

We chose the Slow Medium and set off, getting farther away from main roads and into areas we'd never seen before, from open fields to gated mansions. I'd suggest, however, that "Slow Medium" might be a misnomer. This is not a walk for dawdlers or lollygaggers; it is not a ramble. It is for serious walkers. It is, in a word, brisk.

Luckily, Christ Church is not the hilliest parish, but the walk did take us through sugar cane fields where a machete might not have been out of place and where you had to keep an eye on the ground or risk a turned ankle.

It was fantastic, giving a whole new view to the island that we never could have seen, even touring in a car. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the scenic vistas because if you so much as stopped to tie a shoelace, the rest of the group would be a dot in the distance by the time you stood up.

After the hike was over and we'd bandaged our blisters, as one of my travelling companions put it, "Now the only thing we have to worry about is where and when we're going to eat."

But for three dedicated food lovers, that's a considerable worry. Luckily, one of our dinners was already arranged, as I'd made the reservations months prior.

Tell anyone who's familiar with either Barbados or fine dining that you're going to The Cliff and his eyes will widen gratifyingly. The restaurant -- thanks to chef Paul Owens -- has the highest Zagat rating on the island, with prices to match: BBD$245 (C$151) for a two-course prix fixe menu (not including cocktails, wine or dessert, all of which we indulged in).

In these tough times, it seems ridiculously indulgent to spend such a princely sum on dinner, but what we got was fit for a king (or at least a prince -- Prince Andrew has been known to dine at The Cliff) and how often do you get to visit a restaurant with the reputation as one of the best in the world?

Lit by flickering torches, the restaurant sits perched on a cliff, with wide stone steps that lead down to intimate tables overlooking the surf that rolls into the scenic bay below.

And the food is truly incredible: beef carpaccio that melts in the mouth; gnocchi as fluffy as pillows; perfectly cooked tender duck breast; ravishing lobster ravioli; a lemon tart that might be the best dessert I've ever had.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we'll remember forever. And be paying off for several months.

On the other end of the spectrum -- but no less enjoyable -- is It's All Good, a modest shack on Rockley Beach manned by the ever-smiling Jasmine Brown, who whips up healthful smoothies with juice and vitamin supplements. What keeps us coming back, though, is what might be the best daiquiri on the island, made with fresh bananas and a generous helping of dark island rum. For BBD$12 (C$7.50), you get an overflowing plastic cup, which Brown will often top up with whatever's left in her blender.

She also slaves over a hot barbecue to grill flying fish, marlin, swordfish, garlic shrimp and other seafood, which she serves on a plate heaped with seasoned grilled potatoes, plantain and a crunchy-sweet coleslaw-like salad topped with walnuts and raisins. It's not elegant, but it's delicious.

Another high-end highlight was Pisces in the St. Lawrence Gap, where the rum sour was perfectly mixed, the Asian-style scallops with crispy lentils perfectly seared and the atmosphere -- terra cotta lanterns, a sea breeze and a view of fishing boats bobbing in the ocean -- perfectly lovely.

Our other splurge, one we've never gone without, is a day trip on a catamaran. A five-hour cruise on a Tiami ship is BBD$175 (C$108), and more relaxing than a day of being pampered at a spa. They pick you up at your hotel and you're greeted at the harbour with a mimosa, after which you set out along the island's west coast, skimming over unreal waters that shift from indigo to azure and sipping the beverages that are brought to you from the open bar by the attentive staff, who strike the perfect balance between funny flirtiness and serious sailoring.

Along the way, you stop to snorkel and swim with sea turtles, which, no matter how many times you do it, is a wondrous experience. The turtles, with their wise-looking faces and mottled shells, are not shy and will brush up against you in the water.

After a lavish buffet lunch, the boat anchors off the luxurious Sandy Lane resort, where you're free to swim ashore to the beach or just lie back and bob effortlessly in the buoyant blue.

God forbid we should exert ourselves.

From http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/barbados/bridgetown/sd4-6barbados_synagogue.htm

Who were the 'Bearded Ones?'

Reclaiming the Jewish past in Barbados

San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, April. 6, 2001

By Donald H. Harrison

Bridgetown, Barbados (special) --In just a glance, a visitor may see evidence of the decline and subsequent rise of the tiny Jewish community of Barbados.

The 17th-century cemetery is adjacent to the synagogue, which recently has been restored in large measure thanks to the efforts of Paul Altman.

CEMETERY AND SYNAGOGUE-- Paul Altman stands in 17th century cemetery adjacent to original synagogue of Barbados, which has undergone renovation. The grave of his grandfather,
Moses Altman, who led the family's migration from Poland to Barbados in 1931. also is in this cemetery.

When his grandfather, Moses Altman, came to Barbados from Poland in 1931, he found that the Jews had all left the island. Members of the once thriving community had scattered in many directions.

"Some went to Britain because of Barbados being British," Paul Altman told me. "Some went to the United States when the U.S. opened up. The various hurricanes were another reason some left. A lot of them became assimilated.

"Today, Barbadians of all creeds and colors will tap me on the shoulder and say, 'you know my grandfather, or my great-grandfather, left us something from the synagogue and we would like to contribute.'"

In 1925, Edmund Baeza, who then was considered the Caribbean island's last Jewish resident, sold the synagogue which had been capable of accommodating 300 congregants. Baeza donated the proceeds of the sale, amounting to 500 British pounds, to the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, England.

There had been a longstanding relationship between Bevis Marks Synagogue--which follows the Sephardic rite--and the synagogue in Barbados, which was established approximately in 1654 by Sephardic immigrants from Brazil. While the exact date that the first Jewish settlers arrived in Barbados is not known, it is believed it was as early as 1628--one year after British settlement on this Caribbean island began.

FUTURE MUSEUM-- This old schoolhouse building, adjacent to the old Jewish cemetery, has been obtained by the Jewish community for a future museum.

After Baeza sold the synagogue building to Henry Graham Yearwood, it was used for a variety of purposes, including as a law library, turf club and warehouse. Except for weathering, the adjacent cemetery meanwhile was left unchanged--and now requires considerable renovation.

E.M. Shilstone, a local historian, had proposed to Baeza that the synagogue be maintained as a monument to Barbados' early Jewish settlers, among whom were members of the de Mercado family, who were credited with bringing to Barbados the sugar refining industry. After Baeza rejected his offer of a lower amount of money for the synagogue building, Shilstone carefully photographed the interior of the synagogue as well as the inscriptions on the gravestones in the cemetery.

Among them was an inscription on the tomb of Benjamin Massiah, extolling him for having been "a reader of the Jews' Synagogue for many years without a fee or reward and performed the office of Circumciser with great applause and dexterity..."

Moses Altman supported himself as a peddlar, gradually working himself up to a shop keeper. In 1932, his son Henry, followed him over, and eventually a new Jewish settlement of approximately 40 families took root in Barbados. They built themselves a small synagogue, which they named Shaare Tzedek, in a neighborhood of Bridgetown called Rockley. They continued to use the Jewish cemetery adjacent to the old synagogue building for their burials, however.

So matters stood until the late 1970s, when the government of Barbados acquired the old synagogue building by condemnation and made plans to level it so that the lot it stood on could be used for the expansion of the nearby Supreme Court building.

Historical preservation was far from a governmental priority at the time. In fact, Barbados' original Parliament Building once had stood next to the synagogue, and it was destroyed to make room for expansion. Known as Codd's House, it was a building which had housed some important history. It was there, for example, that the Emancipation Bill had been signed during the 1800s, forever outlawing slavery in Barbados.

As destruction came to Codd's House, so too was it planned for what once had been God's house.

Henry Altman became concerned, however, when the government proposed not only to destroy the former synagogue building, but also to take about 10 feet of the Jewish cemetery, which would require the relocation of some of the bodies buried there.

The Altman family immediately began a campaign to preserve both the synagogue and the cemetery.

RESTORED INTERIOR-- Almost every thing inside the old synagogue in Bridgetown, Barbados-- whether the chandeliers, bima, the reader's table or Ten Commandments-- have stories attached to them attesting to the dedication of the current Jewish community to remembering the past.

Henry Altman had an important ally in his son, Paul, who then was serving on the board of the Barbados National Trust. The son went to the Shilstone Library of the Barbados Museum and found Shilstone's photographs which showed exactly how the synagogue's interior once had looked. So armed, he paid a call on Barbados Prime Minister Tom Adams, who told him "if you can find the money to restore the building, we will give you the building."

Fired up, the small Jewish community in Barbados set about contacting potential allies throughout the world.

"Everyone said we were crazy; 'you will never do it!'" Altman recalled to me during an interview at the old synagogue, located within easy walking distance of the pier where our cruise ship, MV Olympic Voyager, had docked that morning.

"Where were we going to get $1 million U.S. currency to restore an old broken down building which no one might ever use?" Altman asked rhetorically. "We set about our task by simply putting one worker to chip away at the building, because that was all that we had funds for at the time. We told him to tell anyone who came and asked what he was doing to say that he was just getting some facts because a major restoration was starting, and that they could contribute to that."

The preservationist eventually attracted contributions from the Commonwealth Jewish Council in Britian, the American Jewish Congress the Canadian Jewish Congress, and individual donors.

BRIDGETOWN SHOPPING-- The flags of many nations wave over the crowded shopping avenue in Bridgetown Barbados.

"I went and attended various meetings, invited them here, and got people to write articles for newspapers in different areas, and people saw that we were serious," Altman recalled.

With the help of Shilstone's photographs, the community set about to restore the old building to its former self.

"It was like putting a puzzle together," said Altman. "One of the first things we did was we found out that the University of Florida had a program called PIC-- Preservation in the Caribbean. ...They sent us a School of Architecture graduate student who came and spent three months and worked with a firm in Barbados, who offered their services."

The Barbados Museum had a few pieces from the synagogue, like an original bench, and other pieces were located both on the island and elsewhere. Last year, for example, "a lady from the Winterthur Museum came here ... because she wanted to discuss the original chandeliers. But they wouldn't give them back, and I went as far as speaking with Mr. Shapiro, who was then president or chairman of Dupont (which underwrote the museum).

"He happened to be a Jewish man, whom I thought I could appeal to in terms of the cause, but he said it would be up to the curator of the museum and he couldn't impose his wishes on her," Altman recalled. "The feeling was that if you returned artifacts such as those chandeliers to their places of origin, then the museum would cease to have a reason to exist. I argued differently of course. I said this was one opportunity that presented itself, whereas many wouldn't."

Even though the synagogue couldn't recover its original chandeliers, it was able to commission artisans to make replicas, which were installed in the old sanctuary.

Altman was more successful with the "Ten Commandments" which originally had been placed over the aron kodesh. It turned out the tablets "were hanging over the swimming pool in the former residence of an ex governor general of Barbados." Known as Illaro Court, the house later had become the residence of the Prime Minister of Barbados. (I couldn't help but wonder if anyone had posted near the tablets, an 11th Commandment saying "Thou shalt not run near the pool.")

"When we were assembling the (synagogue) building, the Prime Minister at the time was Bernard St. John, who is now Sir Bernard St. John, and his wife, Stella," continued Altman, waving off my dive into humor. "Stella had a particular link with a man called Teddy Reitman, who was the honorary consul of Barbados in Israel. He had befriended the St. John family in Israel, and in fact,they had visited his house near Tel Aviv. Teddy Reitman approached Stella, and Stella was immediately willing. She said 'Come and take them,' and we put them back here."

Local artisans were commissioned to reproduce the old wood bima as well as the reader's table, which faced each other in the configuration typical of Sephardic shuls.

"We have superb craftsmen in Barbados, just like the ones who would have made the original ones back in the 1600's," Altman said. "These were done by a very talented man by the name of Andy Tempro-- our families have known each other for many years. He builds furniture. In fact, he is connected with Princess Margaret's son, Lindsey, who is in the area, and they have a common interest in the reproduction of antique furniture and that type of thing."

Altman said although there were always monetary pressures, he insisted upon quality. "For example, someone said they could do these moldings a lot cheaper if they did them out of fiber glass, and I said 'absolutely not. What was here was wood.' We used mahogany. I suppose because of my National Trust hat and links that I don't believe in synthetics when it comes to doing a restoration of an old building."

During the winter months, the Jewish community holds its services in the old synagogue building, which, as in days of old, has no air conditioning. But during the hot months of summer, they retreat to the smaller, but air conditioned, Shaare Tzedek for their services.

Besides restoration of the old synagogue, Altman has arranged for the repair of the cemetery and plans a Jewish museum in a nearby school house following renovation.

The cemetery project started only after "we had someone we could have 100 percent confidence in. We found that person in Evan Mielner-- a British fellow, who has a degree in stone work, and has experience as a hobby in archeology. ... He has done a tremendous amount of research. He belongs to the Bevis Marks Synagogue...so he understands all the religious requirements that attaches to that type of Spanish graveyard."

Restoration of the cemetery "is a slow process, and he has left instructions for the gentlemen who are here. He (Mielner) comes three months a year and works on his hands and knees with them doing the work and then leaves a detailed set of instructions, and they continue. We have two men who slowly, laboriously, piece by piece, are doing it. If it takes ten years, it will take ten years, but it will be done right and that is my concern."

One of the local artisans is Charles Leslie, "who must be given full credit for what he has done," Altman said. "He has put years of his life into this work, and although he is not Jewish, he considers this his purpose in life to continue this job. He is so committed to it."

Besides repairing broken stones, the team has chiseled onto the stones lost letters, using for guidance inscriptions from Shilstone's book--as well as some records found at the Bevis Marks Synagogue.

I asked Altman to try to put in words what motivates him.

"I will tell you what is in my heart," he replied. "When I walked into this building for the first time, people walked me around and said that these tiles here were the original tiles, although at the time they were so dirty you could hardly see them, and that under the fake ceiling there was another ceiling. As I looked around, I saw the graveyard and I recognized the significance and the history, and I felt a part of it for whatever reason...

"Barbados has something special," Altman added. "It has that history; it has that attachment to the Jewish presence here, the African presence here, the British presence here. "

According to legend, the name " Las Barbados," meaning "the bearded ones," in Portuguese, refers to a type of fig tree found on the island by explorers. While he can't disprove the legend, Altman prefers his alternative explanation for the island's name.

"If you check anywhere in Barbados, the only Portuguese names that are in Barbados, and the ones which are from the original settlement, are in this graveyard," he said. "So I suggest that 'Las Barbados' really referred to those bearded Jewish settlers who came here..."

Who'd have thought? A Jewish island!