By this Author: greatgrandmaR

Grenada map

flag bunting

Grenada is an island nation at the southern end of the Lesser Antilles. Although it was colonized initially by the French, it was a British colony from 1762 until it achieved independence in 1974. Since Grenada is in the southern Caribbean it is a great place to go in the winter to have warm weather.. They have become a cruise ship stop, so there is substantial tourism, but many Grenadians are fishermen.

cleaning shellfish

Grenada is called the Spice Island. Spices that they grow include

Nutmeg
Bay leaves
Tumeric (Saffron)
Cinnamon
Cloves
Allspice
Ginger

They also produce great chocolate

Showing_us_cocoa_beans_which_she_gave_us_to_suck_Grenada

walking the pier

Drivers and guides waiting at the gate

We got off and we still had a good way to walk to get to the place where the tours were meeting even though the boat was bow in and we got off at the bow. It was hot and sunny. We sat on the wall and waited until they called a tour. Originally I had picked the 7 hour Best of Grenada tour, but i switched to what I thought was a less strenuous tour.

guides for tours - our original 7 hour tour Best of Grenada on left

We were on the Western Rainforest Tour. (They take the tickets from us so I've gotten into the habit of photographing them)

Tour ticket

Our driver's name was Albin. The guide in Barbados (whose name I think was Storm) and Albin had the habit of repeating the last few words of each sentence. Like "That tree is a cinnamon tree - cinnamon tree" It is like we had audio closed captions - gives you another chance to hear what they say. Albin also added "And so on" at the end of each sentence. The guy with the walker was on this tour too. This time instead of putting the walker in front of the door, they put it on a seat. He sat in the single seat and put his feet up on the console. I sat in front of him next to the driver.

van leaving port area on the left

They drive on the left and Albin admonished us at the beginning of the tour not to panic unless the driver did.

bus driving on the left

We drove out of the capitol cit of St. George, and I took photos

Parking

St George's

Past the bus station - apparently in Grenada, you can buy a van and set up your own bus route. The bus routes start or end at the bus station

Bus Station

Red minivan-bus

White Lightening mini bus

Meat Market

Sitting out in front of the Meat Market

Fish Market

vegetables

Stalls along the road

Moored boats

oil on the road

Pedestrian bridge on the left

We passed a roadside monument to Slinger Francisco, better known as Mighty Sparrow. He is a calypso singer, songwriter, and guitarist known as the "Calypso King of the World" Although he is a citizen of Trinidad, Grenada claims him because he was born there.

Slinger Francisco monment

Canon

Grenada police

conch shells on a wall

Looking down on the water by the road

Sign as you enter Saint John Parish

We went into the second parish on the west coast - St. John (there are six parishes on Grenada - going clockwise around the island from St. George, they are St. George, St John, St Mark, St Patrick, St. Andrew, and St David. And it was here that we started the Spice portion of the excursion

In St. John's Parish, the main town is Gouyave. Originally called Charlotte Town after Queen Charlotte of Britain, it was renamed Gouyave by the French because of its guava trees. We turned off the main road to go to what was formerly a large spice plantation.

road to Douglaston

Buildings around the spice plantation - Grenada

and they explained about the different ones. We bought some. They told us that nutmeg oil was good for joint pain but you had to dilute it with something and I don't remember what.

nutmeg

fresh bay leaves

Bay leaves and cocoa pod

Loofa

Ginger flower

Plantains or bananas

Bagged bananas

Nuts or fruits

Fruits in a tree

To get to the bathrooms you had to walk over big stones, and I couldn't do it.

Road leaving Douglaston

The driver explained some of the interesting habits of Grenadians - he said that the woman that lived here put eggs on the ends of the agave plant to keep the sharp points from hurting people.

Sign - Notice Stop Cutting My Spice Tree

Street in Gouyave

Speed bump sign by a drainage ditch

Street in Gouyave

From here we headed to St. Andrews Parish to visit Grand Etang Park

We went up into the mountains

Mountains in the distance

Welcome to Grenada at Grand Etang

Welcome to the Park sign

Entrance to the park

Band at Grand Etang

Fruit juice or rum punch

Beads and small items in a basket

Stands with handicrafts

T shirts and tourists

clothing and souvenirs

Crater Lake

Bob went up to the building which had information about the park and took pictures there and of the lake in the distance (it is a volcano crater).

Sign in the park information building

Climatology poster

Grand Etang wildlife

Birth of Caribbean islands

The Grand Etang House

From there we went to the parish of St. George and stopped to let people walk down to a waterfall.

Waterfall sign

Waterfall from the road

Bob and I didn't go.

Banana lady

There as a man with a monkey for people to have their picture taken with.

Man with a monkey for photos

Monkey for photos

Thank you USA

The last part of the visit was to the forts that overlook St. George's and the port

We drove back to St. George's

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception 2013

We went to Fort Matthew and Fort Frederick.

Approaching Ft Frederick

Man at the fort gate - looked like Snoop Dog

Entry booth and our van on the right from Ft Fred

Fort

Fort Frederick

Bob at the entrance

Cannon at Fort George

Robbie's bar

Unusual wind vane

part of the fort

Sign about the fort

I availed myself of the bathroom in the Visitor's Center

Visitor's Information booth at Fort Fred

Maasdam at the pier from the fort

Carenage from the fort

View from Ft Frederick

Street in St. George's

Carenage end of the tunnel

cars in the tunnel

View of the steps

Clothing

Dresses

Souveniers and gifts

So again Bob went and got my scooter for me to go back on the ship.

Forts from a cruise ship

We got back just before the Lido closed, but we got pizza at the Terrace Grill and again the line for ice cream was too long, so we got bread pudding.

PIzza for lunch

Grenada as we leave port