"Bridgetown Meanderings" Top 5 Page for this destination Barbados Travelogue by grandmaR

Garden Cafe

We had breakfast in the Garden Cafe about 9:30. I was walking through carrying a bowl of hot cereal and a plate with a roll, and went by the drinks table and one of the young officers asked if he could help me. I said yes, and handed him my plates. He asked if I wanted something to drink and I said I'd like water because they didn't have what I wanted which was cranberry juice. He found me a table, cleaned it off and said he'd go down to deck 6 (where the Indigo is and where they HAVE cranberry juice) and get us cranberry juice (Bob had joined us by this time). And he did that!!!

Monument in Hero's Square

We didn't have a tour booked in Barbados either, and there was a Carnival ship (Destiny) in port along with a Celebrity, and a ship called Freewinds. We were out on the starboard side of the port - past the Destiny.

For Barbados, my problem was that I had several things I was interested in doing, but not from a tour. Harrison's Cave was still not open, but we could have gone to St. Nicholas Abbey to see what they'd done to it in the intervening 11 years since we were here before. I also had never been to Pelican Village to see the local crafts, and I'd not gotten pictures of the main square area of Bridgetown - the Careenage and what used to be Trafalger Square (now Hero's Square) with Nelson's statue. There was no way to do all of that without taking a taxi, and/or doing a lot of walking.

Shuttle bus through Garden Cafe salty window

So we got on the shuttle bus which they had to take us in to the portside shops about 10:10. There was supposed to be a shuttle bus from the port to the middle of the city, but we never found it. We walked out along the street to the port, and just short of Pelican Village, we found a taxi driver who said he'd take us into the city for $5.00 US. (US $1 is $1.8 Bajan). He dropped us off about 10:45, and we then walked around the town taking pictures

Poison Box

In Hero's Square I saw a little green box marked "Do Not Disturb M.O.H. Poison". I didn't disturb it, but did take a photo. As we walked farther, we were kind of on the back streets, and I saw a sign advertising chicken necks and backs on a blackboard outside of a shop. Did not take a picture of that unfortunately.

Bob's picture of me talking to a taxi driver

After we walked around the Careenage, and I talked to another taxi driver about possibly taking us to St. Nicholas Abbey, we walked a little farther along was the Cathedral Church of St. Michaels & All Angels (top photo) and went inside where it was cool. (Although there was a stiff breeze outside which kept it very clement.) The plaque on the door said the first building which accommodated 3,000 people was built in was consecrated in 1665, but was destroyed in the hurricane of 1780.

The current building was completed in 1789 and was damaged in the hurricane of 1831, but not demolished. They had an interesting creche at the front door.

Pedestrian Street

On the way out, we saw a man who had parking places marked off with cones, and he was directing a car to park there. I was thinking that this was the kind of thing we had happen to us when we parked in Bridgetown when we were here in 1996.

Bob had us walking back in the direction of the port along pedestrian streets, which was interesting, but we'd never get a cab there. Eventually we worked out way out to the main drag, and got a cab, which took us back to the cruise ship terminal for $4.00.

Bob in Fun Trivia

We got back to the ship about 12:30, and had lunch in the restaurant. I had the apple, pear and beach compote, the chilled blueberry soup, and a pastrami sandwich. Bob had the same, except hamburger.

We went to Fun Trivia, and weren't the winners, but we did pretty well. For dinner I had spaghetti carbonara, and Bob had grilled salmon. We had bread pudding for dessert - it was good - looked like it was done in a cupcake pan.

Tomorrow is our last stop for this section of the cruise - St. Lucia