Today no excursions were planned by “the gang” so we all headed into St. Barth’s to explore around the town. St. Barth’s is where the celebrities like to hang out and it shows with the high-end shops (Cartier, Bulgari, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabana, and Chopard to name a few) you see right on the waterfront. John, being the explorer that he is, saw a lighthouse in the distance so we headed that way. It was the Gustavia Lighthouse, which was built in 1961 and is still actively used. Gustavia is the capital of St. Barthelemy. It was very hot today and there was not much shade, so we tried to be quick getting there. You pass some lovely gardens going up to the lighthouse, which provided us with some shade as well as many iguanas roaming around. When we got to the lighthouse the view was amazing! You can see all the islands and there was a directory that told you what you were looking at. Well worth the climb and the sweat!
We headed back to town and popped into one of the little bars we saw that was situated on a corner. It was open on both sides, so you got a nice cross breeze. We ordered some drinks and snacks and people watched for a while. We headed back to the dock to wait for the tender and then headed back to the ship. John and Joe wanted to do a tour of the engine room, so the rest of us sat at the bar and chatted. We all cleaned up, and then met again for dinner.
After dinner, we went up on the top deck and got situated before the ship took off towards St. Maarten. We are not looking forward to it all ending……
Excerpt about St. Barthelemy from the flyer:
Discovered by Columbus in 1493, St. Barth’s is part of the French West Indies. Today it is a small piece of France in the Caribbean, some 4400 miles from Paris. It has long been a Caribbean hideaway for the rich and famous, but the island does have other distinguishing features. It is the only Caribbean island to have a Swedish heritage, if only partially. Louis XVI ceded the island to Sweden in exchange for trading rights elsewhere. St. Barts has been, and remains primarily French, and today is a province of Guadeloupe. Though only eight square miles in size and despite an increasing flow of tourists, some of the island’s villages still maintain traditional dress and customs from 17th century France. The capital Gustavia surrounds a harbor of picture book beauty, lined with boutiques and cafés. St. Barth’s with its mountainous landscape leading down to picturesque azure water coves and beaches is undoubtedly one of the jewels of the Caribbean.
