Barbados is one of the southernmost islands in the Caribbean where daytime highs average 75 to 80 degrees, and the air is cooled by constant trade winds. Photo by Gene Korte
You can imagine, of course, that the beaches are fabulous here. You even get to choose between the pounding surf of the Atlantic on one side of the island and the gentle waters of the Caribbean on the other.
Perhaps you’ve heard that people don’t really go to this part of the world for the food. That’s not true in Barbados, the only island in the Caribbean with its own Zagat Guide.
If you’re a seafood lover, it’s worth the trip just to taste the locally caught barracuda served at Champers Restaurant and the flying fish at the Waterfront Cafe.
Once the home of a booming sugar cane industry, today this prosperous 14-by-20-mile island hosts plenty of sunbathers, but that’s not all. The other two big draws for Barbados are duty-free shopping and outstanding golf courses. One of the island’s best-kept secrets, however, is 450 years of history made visible through museums, particularly one that opened in the spring of 2008.
GOING DOWN MEMORY LANE
The Arlington House, a jewel of a museum, tells the story of Barbados through visuals, sounds and touch. Situated in an 18th-century coral stone house located in Speightstown, this museum was the home of generations of a merchant family for 200 years.
Surround-sound memories, like a movie soundtrack, and visuals of an olden-times Saturday market day fill the ground floor of this museum. The second floor shows the important role Barbados played in the slave trade. A video of two plantation ladies discussing the sugar in their tea side by side with the comments of the workers in the sugarcane field is a lesson in island economics.
Of the 30 or so island nations in the Caribbean, Barbados is the furthest east and nearly the most southern. Because of that location, hurricanes seldom come to call. Nevertheless, one of the last stops on the third floor, where an electronic pirate has a lot to say, is a display that’s not to be missed. It cleverly demonstrates the sound and fury of hurricane wind.
Barbados is also home to one of the oldest synagogues (built in 1654) in this part of the world. Located in Bridgetown, the Nidhe Israel Synagogue, with its beautiful Gothic arches, has recently been restored and houses an old cemetery on the grounds, along with a museum and a new archeological excavation site. The synagogue is open to the public daily.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE
When our first president was but a teenager, he came to Barbados with his ailing half-brother Lawrence for a couple of months in 1751. Because of a lung problem, doctors recommended that Lawrence take a trip to the West Indies.
To continue reading this article, go to http://www.ihavenet.com/vacation-travel/Balmy-Barbados-Vacation-Guide-DK.html
© 2011 Diana and Gene Korte
