Martinique - half around the island in a day

This morning we got up early and Bjoern from SV/ Tauranga has invited us for a tour around the island. He had borrow a car the day before to pick up friends from the airport and because they did not come in before late in the evening we had the pleasure to breathe in Martinique atmosphere.

We started in Le marin were we are anchored at the moment and made our way up the coast to Fort-de-France.  As soon as we hit the motorway we knew that we must be in European territories. Nice tar seal two lane roads….wow…the  33 km to the capital was done in no time. Unfortunately it was Sunday so most of the shops were closed, however a big cruise ship was docked in Fort-de-France and so there was a bit of tourism and life going in the center. We visited the Schoelcher Library, the St. Louis Cathedral where a church ceremony was just held, with a beautiful choir that sounded like the angels singing on earth.  We walked around the city and I have to say the city itself was not pretty. I am not sure because everything was closed and gave us the impression that the whole city was deserted, or because of the state of some of the buildings. We also came across the town hall which is used as a museum as well the town’s theater and other culture events. The building is very pretty, impressive and stylish and a big contrast to the rest of the towns infrastructure. We also pass the statue of Joesephine, Napoleon Bonapartes wife who was apparently born in Martinique and lived there later on as the French empress. Victor Schoelcher was pushing to abolish slavery in the French colonies, and on the 27. April 1848 he succeeded with his vision.

From here we climb back into our limousine and drive further up the coast. The coast is pretty, but I noticed that the coastal vegetation is very dry and nothing like any of the other islands we have been to further down south. We pass the little township Schoelcher, Bellefontaine and Carbet, before we settle for lunch in Saint Pierre. Saint Pierre used to be the capital of Martinique, and was known as the little Paris of the West Indies. On the 8^th of May 1902 the volcano Mt. Pele erupted and destroyed the whole township and apart of the one person in prison, all other 30.000 people died under its ash and rocks. We found a great restaurant directly on the sea shores, were we had a delicious four course meal.

Once we had gulped down a second set of roasted flamed bananas, we rolled back to our car and drove across the island to Mourne Rouge, here we took the wrong turn and instead of driving down the west coast we made it through the middle of the island back to Fort-de-France, this is what happens if you have got two of the greatest navigator in charge. We were all very impressed by the lush and green vegetation in the mountain. The temperature dropped down significantly as we were racing over the mountains and through the inland of Martinique. Lots of fruit trees, banana trees and tropical flowers were lining the roads…stunning and very interesting flora and fauna, total different to the coast. We all loved it and saw several waterfalls along the way were people were cooling off and enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

We just made it back to Le Marin before it got dark, thank you so much Bjoern for such a fun ride and interesting Sunday.  Our next big adventure will be a walk or hike up Mt. Pele, the still active volcano, really looking forward to this.