The Windward Islands of Barbados and Grenada

Another overnight cruise and we wake up in Barbados. Bridgetown is the port-of-call and the capital of Barbados. Barbados gained independence from the British in 1966, but their influence is still apparent

St. Mary's church

on the island. English is the native tongue, Cricket is the national sport, and tea is still the favorite drink.

The cricket museum

Of the Windward Islands, Barbados is the furthest east, and was officially named by the Portuguese in 1536. The British arrived in 1625 (Portugal had pretty much abandoned the island) and serious settlement began a few years later. Today Barbados is a proud member of the British Commonwealth of nations and one of the premier tourist destinations in the Caribbean.

Like the other ports we had visited, we decided to shun the shore excursions and explore Bridgetown on our own. The problem was we exited the cruise terminal and got lost.

Parliament building (really!)

The central business district and shopping area was about a mile from the terminal and we felt the walk would do us good. But we started to follow the taxis thinking they were heading where we wanted to go. Wrong!

St. Michael's cathedral

These taxis were taking visitors on island tours and away from where we wanted to go. After waking almost two miles in the wrong direction, we asked a local which direction we needed to go. “Turn around and straight ahead,” we were told.

Very old crypt at St. Mike's

About 2 miles later we arrived at St. Mary’s Anglican/Episcopal church on the outskirts of the central business district. Dating back to 1658, it is the island’s first permanent church and is referred to as the “Old Churchyard.”

Christmas trees and museum

Like many such establishments, the church is steeped in island history. We left the church and walked through the business district with its plethora of tourist jewelry shops. Walking to the National Heroes Square, we crossed the street to the Parliament buildings and neighboring museum. Two blocks past the Parliament buildings and we were at St. Michael’s Cathedral. Built in 1789 of coral stone, the church features stunning stained glass windows.

Chamberlains Bridge

Walking the canal and boardwalk

We took pictures of the sanctuary and cemetery and found some very old graves dating back to the 1700’s. Leaving the cathedral, we walked across the bridge that spans the harbor’s Inner Basin and found a park that was decorated with Christmas trees from local schools. We crossed back into the central business district over another bridge, the Chamberlains Bridge.

Christmas mannequin

Those were the only bridges that we saw but apparently are enough to give the city its name.

A Barbados pirate!

We headed back to the ship, stopping at some shops at the cruise terminal to spend some money. Diamonds International was calling Jane’s name, and she was able to add to her John Hardy jewelry collections with a new ring and bracelet. Capt. Larry guessed the Dollar Tree gifts didn’t quite fill the bill this season. We also learned that all of her John Hardy pieces are now collector's items.

Barbados sunset

Our next stop was the beautiful island of Grenada (gre NAY da- they are particular about this pronunciation).

St. George's

The island’s capital, St. George’s, is considered one of the most picturesque ports in the Caribbean and there’s no way we could disagree with that assessment.

Lush vegetation, mountainous terrain, and colorful colonial architecture make up the landscape.

Market Hill

Grenada is referred to as the “Spice Island” and is filled with spice trees that make it a leading source of nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and cocoa. These trees add a very pleasing, distinct aroma to the atmosphere.

With the Insignia, again

Grenada lies on the southern edge of the Grenadines, and the country is comprised of the island of Grenada and some smaller outlying islands with Carriacou and Petit Martinique the most significant.

We left the ship and headed for the Market Square, the heart of Grenada’s commercial center. Once used as a place for public executions, trading slaves, and political speeches, the square is today used by farmers and spice vendors to sell their produce to locals and visitors.

A beautiful bay

We walked through the square but were assailed by a horde of taxi drivers trying to get us to purchase a tour of the island. We hadn’t planned on doing anything other than a little local shopping, but one taxi shark amused us with his approach and we ended up in a cab to tour the island.

Overlooking St. George's

And what a tour it was! Grenada’s streets are very narrow and not well maintained (if at all!), and the mountainous approaches are enough to raise your hair. We got to see some beautiful sights, but we could not remember the places we had been. Our driver took us to several bays and lagoons located primarily along Grenada’s western shore.

SGU- how about it, grandkids?

He told us that most of the population resided on the western side of the island, but the eastern (windward) shore was more beautiful and picturesque. It was hard to imagine a landscape more lovely that what we were seeing.

SGU building

We were taken to St. George’s University (SGU) and allowed a campus tour. The university, a medical school only at the time, was a focus of nightly newscasts during the 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada. The U.S administration of Ronald Regan gave the rescue of American medical students at the university as the reason for the invasion, after a violent coup had toppled the Grenadian government a week earlier.

Windstar ship at sunset

The students were successfully brought to the U.S. and allowed to complete their schooling stateside. Today SGU offers degrees in medicine, veterinary medicine, public health, health sciences, nursing, arts and sciences, and business. We toured the beautiful, modern campus in its idyllic setting, and wished that one or more of our grandchildren would go to college here so that we could come and visit them! Our driver returned us to the shopping district. For a total of $30 plus a $5 tip we had a 1.5 hour tour that showed us some of the island’s highlights. This compared to the three-hour, $79 per person shore excursion offered by the ship. We picked up a few small items from the street vendors and re-boarded the ship.