Barbados highlights
Bridgetown
The first place to visit in Bridgetown is National Heroes' Square, a bustling plaza at the centre of city activity. In what was known until 1999 as Trafalgar Square, you'll see a dignified bronze monument to Lord Nelson, erected in 1813 (plans have been made to move him elsewhere). Although London's famous memorial may be bigger, Bridgetown's was the first-by quite a few years! The statue has been turned round so Nelson now turns his back on Broad Street, a colourful, animated thoroughfare with old colonial buildings. The Treasury Building has been hung with portraits of 10 official national heroes, eventually to be replaced by statues.North of the square, you'll notice the neo-Gothic Public Buildings that have housed the Barbados legislature ever since a fire destroyed most of the neighbourhood in 1860. Little roads leading to Swan Street contain attractive examples of Barbados architecture.
From National Heroes' Square take St Michael's Row to the Anglican St Michael's Cathedral. It looks like an English parish church, except that it has a red corrugated roof. It was rebuilt in white stone after a hurricane destroyed the original. Up the road from St Michael's you come to Queen's Park, an elegant residence that once housed the British Commanding General. It is now an art gallery, with a small theatre. The adjacent park boasts an enormous baobab tree that measures over 18 m (60 ft) in circumference.To the east, the Belleville district is a residential area full of pretty Victorian houses, with Government House, a mansion dating from the early 18th century and home of the Governor General.
The Garrison Savannah, former British military headquarters, lies on the southern outskirts of town. The old military prison houses the Barbados Museum. Scattered over the grassy courtyard is a motley collection of sugar moulds, penny-farthings and anchors. Gallery exhibits highlight local lore, seashells, fish and aspects of the culture of the Arawaks, first inhabitants of the Caribbean. There is a special display of prints relating to the islands, as well as fine English furniture.St Ann's Fort close by dates from the early years of the 18th century. The fortification, with its conspicuous clock tower, has become a local landmark.
The Platinum Coast
The west coast takes its name from the brilliant white of its sandy beaches. Many luxury hotels and big private mansions are situated along this "Millionaire's Row". Nevertheless, between the resort developments and imposing estates, you can still see pretty wooden Barbadian houses with their gingerbread decoration.In Holetown, a monument commemorates the first landing of a British ship on Barbados in 1625. The Anglican St James's Church, founded in 1660 and rebuilt in 1874, preserves a 17th-century font.
Travel north to Speightstown (pronounced "spite"), once the sugar capital of the northwest area. The town was known as "Little Bristol", since the Speight family made most of their trade with the English port. Speightstown has remained typically West Indian, with small, pastel wooden houses and shops, old churches and an easygoing populace greeting one another in the streets. Just north at Six Men's Bay, old cannon are ranged about the silvery shore, another picturesque reminder of the past, and fishing boats bob in the surf.Continue to North Point and Animal Flower Cave, where a guide will lead you down steep steps to a cavern carved out by the sea. You'll see the animal flower itself-an exquisite sea anemone. High waves occasionally close the caves.
On the return journey, take the road that winds through St Lucy parish to Farley Hill, once a venerable plantation house. Many royal visitors were entertained here, including King George V, and the house was the setting for the film Island in the Sun. A fire damaged the building and the government finally took over the property.St Nicholas Abbey, another plantation house, is one of the oldest in the Caribbean, built around 1650 in Jacobean style with Dutch gables. A short distance east stands the restored Morgan Lewis Windmill, a reminder of the days when sugar-making was introduced by Dutch settlers from Brazil.
On your way back to Bridgetown, across the island, take a walk through Welchman Hall Gully. This deep, wide ravine was planted with citrus and spices in the 19th century but left to grow wild until developed as an island attraction in the 1960s. In nearby Harrison's Cave, a tram will take you through a cavern of stalagmites and stalactites.In the area is another botanical showplace: the Flower Forest at Richmond Plantation. Splendid views of the sea and Scotland district compete with horticultural attractions from ginger lilies to cabbage palms.
