Honeymoon 1
After an amazing few days of intense high energy and emotional tidal waves for our wedding, a Bajan Honeymoon felt like the icing on the cake.
I had never been to Barbados before and very absent-mindedly thought as I threw my wedges and my sun hat into my suitcase, well it’s a Caribbean island, so it’s not going to be much different from Trinidad …… maybe we just won’t know as many people! I was so very mistaken!
We were very excited in our little rental car, all piled up with my ridiculously over packed suitcases, pulling out of the Grantley Adams International Airport about to embark on our first adventure as Mr. and Mrs. Campbell. Edward, as diligent as he always is, had already got the GPS sorted out and it promised to be two weeks of maximum discovery of Barbados.
As we settled into our drive, chattering about this and that, I was silenced by my first glimpse of the Barbadian coastline. The water was an amazing crisp blue … the sort of blue you see a top in and have to have because the color is just so amazing and rich and you just want it close to your skin, kind of blue. Time seemed to slow down at that moment and I was so very content just to sit there, in the front passenger seat, staring out the window at the beautiful coast and all the shoreline activities as we drew closer to our Hotel. Aside from its beautiful waters, and the incredible fact that Barbados is predominantly geologically composed of coral, I fell in love with the pride in its history that Barbados emanates. Barbados shares a similar history with Trinidad, in that they are both former British Colonies and at one point in time, Sugar Cane would have been the major industry for both islands.
 |
| Old stables at Fisherpond Great House |
In our exploration of Barbados’ interior we stumbled across a restaurant called Fisherpond Great House. This was in fact a nineteenth century Colonial Plantation House, usually called “Great Houses”, in the St. Andrews’ Parish. The present owner of the Great House opens the House up as a part time fine dining restaurant on Sundays and Wednesdays. Relics from its hay-day were littered around the grounds, from the massive derelict hollow masonry post of the estate’s windmill, the sugar-cane storage building, the horse stables which were now being used as a greenhouse of sorts, to the House’s sprawling front garden which would have overlooked the sugar-cane fields. The Great House itself had been very well preserved. All of the House’s signature nineteenth century moldings, Demerrara shutters and sash door frames testified to a great history. It being Saturday, Edward and I were hesitant to leave the aura of the Great House and poked around for a bit before leaving and promising to be back for lunch tomorrow. We were not disappointed. Mr. John Chandelier, the new owner of the Great House and a former hotelier, was a fabulous host and has put a tremendous amount of effort into keeping the historic atmosphere of Fisherpond alive.
My next encounter with Barbados’ proud history, came in the form of St. Nicholas’ Abbey, located in the Parish of St. Peter. We arrived at this Great House mid-morning and did not leave until they closed. Not actually an Abbey, this Great House has been bought by a local architect eager to preserve the Jacobean-styled House’s elegant Dutch-influenced curvilinear gables and triple-arcaded Georgian portico. This Great House is one of only three Jacobean-styled houses, in the Western Hemisphere. In an effort to preserve the integrity and history of this Great House, the paved walkways were actually made using red-bricks that were used as ballast to weigh the ships down which came from England in the nineteenth century. Stamps on the blocks “Sonnybridge”, “Calder” and a few others, bore testament to the blocks' origins. The estate is actually a functioning sugar and rum distillery with a brand new copper plant called “Annabelle” housed in and paradoxically juxtaposed against the old sugar mill. |
| Ready for a day of trawling |
Of course we found ourselves at Barbados’ world renown St. Lawrence’s Gap and the swanky part of town called Sandy Lane, had fabulous meals at the Mews, Champers, Tapas, Naniki’s and Paulo’s Churasco, had tea at the Bagetelle Great House and even found some time to visit a few art galleries.
Edward sniggled in a day of fishing and I was granted an evening of horse-back riding on Bath beach! We both marveled at the wonders of Harrison Caves and even contemplated signing up for the crawl-through tour. Our friend Captain Nick Knowles, took us on a beautiful catamaran cruise, introduced us to the Bajan sea turtles and kept us well supplied with malibus and rum and some good old talk!
It was every adventure we hoped it would be, but Barbados surprised us with its rich history and smooth rum. We left there, knowing that Barbados (the land of the bearded tree) would always have a piece of our hearts.
another great post =) glad you had a fabulous honeymoon!! miss you two !
ReplyDelete