Touring the Southern End of Martinique

Our next stop was the island of Martinique. Martinique is a Caribbean island that is part of the Lesser Antilles, an overseas region of France.

Our first glimpse of the capital city of Fort-de-France, where we would be docking.

A fort dating back to the 1600s...

As always, our buddy giving us the information we would need if we strayed. Today, it was especially handy, as we decided to do a private tour.

The plan was to explore the southwestern part of the island.

Lots of colourful art...

Things were pretty much all in French. Selling red fish?? I was puzzled.

The tour got off to a rocky start as the bus was very small and the A/C decided to quit working. It was hot!

We continued downtown where we would be picking up another couple and hopefully another bus! The streets are narrow.

You can always find a McDonald's!

I was a sweaty mess by now. The bus was so hot and people were waving things to try to make a breeze. It was not helping! I had resorted to my neck fan.

A new bus...so much better! With that problem solved, we resumed our tour.

In the older section of town...

Part of Fort Saint-Louis, which is still an active naval base.

Loved the artwork on the building at the back...

St. Louis Cathedral, which opened in 1895.

A look at the agriculture...they are known for sugarcane, bananas, coffee, and avocados.

As you head out of the city, as in many places, we started to see the bigger "box" stores.

Our tour for the day consisted of visiting a pottery studio, a rum distillery, a church, having a chance to snorkel, and visiting the l'Anse Cafard slave memorial.

Beautiful views...

Pottery village coming up...

This looked interesting, but it was not where we were stopping.

Not here either...

A little tourist town...

There actually wasn't a lot that was open...

The artwork was really nice...

I think this was a whale? It was pretty neat.

Our guide had mentioned there was a mangrove and floating pier in the water. I headed that way with another couple.

Very cool! The kids were having a great time. 

We could hear a bird chirping, but we couldn't find him. This was a thick mangrove.

Beautiful colours...

With that rather strange stop over, we were back on the bus and off to our next stop.

Many of the roundabouts had sculptures in them. It was hard to see them on the fly. Looked like a golfer?

A school...

Heading towards our destination of Les Anses d'Arlet, where we might have an opportunity to swim.

A golf course...it can rain 7 to 13 days a month, so very helpful in keeping it green.

And more signs...

Getting up higher in elevation now. It was very beautiful.

This switchback was crazy. We had slowed down to a crawl to get around it.

And back at sea level...it was a nice drive.

Arriving in the town of Anses d'Arlet...

It was very clean and nice to have some shade. Our guide had water and cake for us, which was appreciated. It was quite an act to get changed into swimwear. I should have worn it. You had to walk to the changeroom further down the beach, put in money (which our guide kindly gave us), wait while one person at a time went in, wait for it to self sanitize when they came out and, in the end, I decided I would swim on another island.

One of the landmarks in the town is the St. Henry Catholic Church. It was burned down by the English in 1762 and rebuilt in 1767. Since then it has been through many cyclones and hurricanes. Most recently, it was damaged heavily in 2007 and rebuilt again by 2012.

The town is also known for its Creole houses...

I took a photo of the sign, but as many of my pictures tend to be, it was slightly out of focus. I think I'm getting old and shaky! I am going to guess it had something to do with the British invasion in 1762.

I walked out on the pier. The water was beautiful and so clear.

It was hot, but at least there was a breeze...

Iconic picture of the church, which is very close to the beach...

Jim and Kim in Martinique...

Back on the bus, I think that was Diamond Head Rock. It is made of basalt and is uninhabited.

The beautiful flowers were everywhere. I didn't do them justice with my photos on the fly.

Artwork with a message...

Arriving at the l'Anse Cafard memorial to the slaves...

The memorial was created in 1998 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies.

The sculptor memorialized a ship tragedy in which 40 slaves drowned off the rocky coast. The statues are 8 feet tall and pointed in the direction of their home.

You could just feel the sadness and heaviness...

Diamond Rock in the background...

I wondered if this was also basalt...

I felt like we were in Quebec...

A stop at a rum distillery...

We were given samples...hella strong! One was quite nice and a bit smoother. I opted out after that one. 

It's a beautiful property...

Back in the downtown, I noticed these ribbons on trees...

And this gaggle of young girls all dressed in white...

Hello to our floating home...always nice to be back.

We headed up to Deck 7 for a beverage and our usual game of Five Crowns.

I honestly don't remember the story of the production, but the music was great and the costumes were as well. I think it had something to do with gaming.

It was a lovely day in a new city. Tomorrow, we'll be in St. Lucia.