Barbados in Photos

After a delightful tour of the Mount Gay Rum Distillery, we walked our tipsy selves back through Bridgetown, stopping at every stall to inspect the local fruits and veggies. One thing we don’t find nearly as often in Puerto Rico is soursop (sugar apples), which is very unique and oddly shaped fruit, with a sweet gritty taste. It looks like several kernels of green bumpy corn stuck together to form a ball, and you peel off each kernel, sucking the white flesh and juices and discarding the skin. It’s interesting. But our stroll was definitely worth it, to experience Barbados by foot, mingling with locals and exploring the city, was priceless.

Barbados’ premier festival is the contemporary version of an 18th century celebration of the sugar harvesting season’s end. Held between July and August, visitors encounter an event every bit as colorful and fervent as carnival in Brazil or Trinidad, as Crop Over features open-air markets, carnival shows, calypso concerts and colorful parades.

The annual Sir Garfield Sobers Festival of Golf is held each spring at the prestigious Apres Hill, Barbados Golf Club, Royal Westmoreland, and Sandy Lane courses. The event traditionally coincides with national Hero’s Day.

Part of the St. Ann’s Garrison, a UNESCO World Heritage site, the building is one of only 12 such prisons constructed anywhere in the British Empire, and maintains an impressive collection of historic artifacts, documents and photographs tied to Barbados history.

The historic residence was built around 1658 of brick and limestone only 30 years after Barbados’ settlement. The estate’s distinctive brand of rum is distilled here and the mansion and distillery are open for tours.

So, you think that you’re just going on a boat cruise around the water. Despite the fact that drinks start well before 9am, or to applaud the fact - you’re in for a full morning of surprises. Jammin’ Catamaran was AMAZING! What could have been a fairly standard tourist experience ended up being a tremendous drinking food fest with macaroni pie, rice and peas, flying fish, chicken, and yes even salad for the die hards. We dove shipwrecks, swam with sea turtles and slid down the waterslides. But the fun kicked in when, admittedly feeling happy with the world, the staff and locals on the boat kicked into high gear with the music. I think i’m an OK dancer, but game on with Barbadian locals. I didn’t know the human body could move that way - whether woman or man - WOW!. Any tourists on the boat who may have been sitting placidly enjoying the view, definitely changed their tune and bumped (wining) well beyond their comfort zone. This is no tour bus! Do it!

I was invited to a One Republic concert in St. James, Barbados and accepted with a modicum of trepidation. I wasn’t sure if I was to see One Direction or One Dove, One Minute of Silence, or Justin Bieber. I had no idea. But Ryan Tedder, the lead singer of (and I am now proud to say that I know them) One Republic is a great, heartfelt performer who not only wrote a half dozen or more songs that I knew in the show (Secrets, Counting Stars, Apologize, Stop and Stare, and more), but has wiriten HUGE hits for others - Halo (Beyonce), Rumor Has It (Adele), and more. A great personal venue at Barbados Polo Grounds, and fantastic local energy (among Barbadians, Canadians, and others). Congrats Barbados on 30+ years of the Breakfast in Barbados promo with Toronto radio station 104FM. Barbados, you do it with style.

Chattel House is a Barbadian word for a small moveable wooden house that working class people would occupy. The term goes back to the plantation days when the home owners would buy houses designed to move from one property to another. The word “chattel” means movable property so the name was appropriate. Chattel houses are set on blocks or a groundsill rather than being anchored into the ground. In addition, they are built entirely out of wood and assembled without nails. This allowed them to be disassembled (along with the blocks) and moved from place to place. This system was necessary historically because home “owners” typically did not own the land that their house was set on. Instead, their employer often owned the land. In case of a landlord tenant (or employer/employee) dispute, the house could be quickly moved to a new property. Beautiful, charming, and pretty unique to Barbados.

If in town or in a fete, one might come across the snowcone man. More recently, the nighttime snowcone man (or sometimes woman) is known to add something of the adult persuasion. Embrace your inner kid and ask for the grown-up version. Yum!

On the road along the coast headed north out of Bridgetown, you come across some old boatyards full of colorful vessels. There are some little lunch spots and rum bars along the way. My favorite is called St Elmos in Moontown, between Holetown and Speightstown. The bbq chicken there has never let me down.