June 1997: Guadeloupe!

THE TRAVEL:

1-day: At 5.30 the alarm clock! Just the time to verify every point of our list of "things to make and to carry", and the taxi, reserved the evening before, is already at the door.
At 7:15 the plane is taken off and we will arrive quite in advance in Paris. That it is not great beautiful news for us... as we will have much more time to wait for next flight!! Any way, we have to follow the several procedures of "transfer" from the airport Charles De Gaulle to Orly with the transport of luggage.
The shuttle of the airline takes us to Orly while a terrible thunderstorm is going on. In the corridors people are going to arrange some buckets in order to collect water that begins to leak from the roof.
At 15:40, local hour, we land on the island and Mr. Michel is there waiting for us. He takes us to the flat he rents us and, from the airport to St. Anne (21 km approximately), he tells us a little about the island.
The house is really nice and well equipped. Near our garden there are zebus, we have three cats and there are some frogs (so small that it is very difficult to see), who in the evening, makes their songs. We relax in the garden enjoying the coolness of the trade winds that, in this part of the island, blow constantly.
At seven o'clock our kind household invites us in its nice garden to taste our first Ti-punch (in Creole TI means "Petit", small). It is a rather abundant glass of white rum (more alcoholic than the aged one) with sugar of cane or vanilla syrup and a piece of green lemon. It would be considered an aperitif but in truly, it is offered at any hour of the day! Goodness knows why my French begins to improve...
Then we move to a small restaurant, we drink a Porteur (fruit juice and rum)... and the conversation takes off!!! It is only the first evening and Mr. Michel introduced us to the cook, the waiters and the family of nice Maria, from the Italian origins, who speaks little of our language.

2-day: today we still feel tired, so we will remain at the beach close to the house: The Caravelle. Laziness and the fatigue push us to rent a "deckchair" but as it is expensive (30 F) we will not do it again. Thanks to this, we make friendship with one of the men at the beach that does not see the hour of being able to show how well he speaks italian. And he offers us a Ti-punch. .

The beach, being very large, is shared in more or less defined areas. First it is much wild, then it becomes more wide until a large place where they rent windsurfs and chairs, nearby you can find a point (that nearly touches the coralline barrier) where the nudists usually is staying. Finally, before last part occupied from the Club Med, there is a nice beach where you can lie between the palms. Anyway, despite of these subdivisions, the beach is all public and you can go everywhere.

3-day: today it is absolutely necessary to go to buy something to eat and to drink. The centre of the village of St.Anne is achievable by foot.

St. Anne is 21 km from the airport. It has many colonial small houses and a relaxed atmosphere beyond the two most beautiful beaches of the island: St.Anne and the Caravelle, where the coralline barrier breaks the waves of the ocean, creating natural swimming pools.

After having briefly walked around in the public square, we enter the supermarket where we find the supplies and the telephone card in order to call Italy. As soon as we go out... surprise... it's raining!!!
We repair ourselves under the porticoes of the bank and wait a little. Now the sun shines again and in the street along the sea, they open the stalls of fruit and spices where we acquire good bananas and a lot of other fruits. Then we go back home, where we will ask the household to rent us a car for four days!
We make some sandwiches and then go west, to Gosier where we can see the Aquarium. We don't like Gosier very much with its great hotels, its casinos and marina. We prefer to go back to St.Anne and continue for St. Fracois the last inhabited centre in the southern coast of Grande Terre.
Just before the village we find the beach the Raisin Clairs, which is free as all those of the island, but it is well equipped with children games, gazebo to supply shadow for picnics.

4-day: Today we go towards the higher part of Grande Terre: the Grand Fond, a hill area where fruit trees grow spontaneous everywhere! The numerous roads (all with an optimal asphalt!) are continuously interlaced and, even if we have the feeling of having made many mistakes, we arrive exactly in front of the Bellevue distillery, where the well known rum Damoiseau is produced (on the way to "Le Moule").
We continue to Le Moule, a village on the Atlantic coast, whose life is concentrated close around the public square to the sea where the fishermen, as soon as returned, are cleaning up fish or they are in the bars playing domino and drinking rum.
As soon as we has left the village, going north, there is a beautiful bay made from the waves of the ocean. The decision soon is taken: stop for a bath!!!!!!
Now we go to visit the Museum of Sciences and Natural History "Edgar Clerc", then returning south, stop for a while in order to observe the villa Zevallos, a typical example of colonial architecture.
For lunch we arrive to St. Francois. Along the sea, in Rue de Republique, there are some small and nice restaurants. We choose "Les Pieds dans the Eau" which is very pretty with its veranda on the seaside and its menu illustrated by children. We spends only 50 F each to eat appetiser of accras, grilled fish and bananas flambé.
In the afternoon we go on to the oriental extremity: La Pointe des Chateaux where you can see cliffs in waves of the Atlantic Ocean which reminds of the structure of a castle .
5-day: Once again we wake up early because of the jet lag. This allows us to catch up Ste. Rose in Basse Terre in the morning. At 9 o'clock, timetable of opening of Rhum Museum, we are already of the door. Truly, in the museum, you can find not only the ancient equipment for the production of rum, but also a beautiful collection of butterflies and coleopters from all over the world, some models of boats to age and some dresses of the colonial age.
We continue towards Deshaies, which is well known for its beaches . First stop to the Anse de la Perle where you can swim in great waves without any danger. Second stop: la Grand Anse. A white sand strip of approximately eight kilometres in a palm forest under green emerald mountains.
We stop to eat a Deshaies before going to Pointe Noire where we can find the Maison du Bois. This small museum is in the National Park that comprises all central area of the island of Basse-Terre. Not far from it the Route de la Traverseé begins. It allows us to cut the island in two and to return to Pointe to Pitre in short time. Approximately covered half way, we reach the "Maison de la Forète" place of departure for some short excursions in the heart of the park. It's late, so we choose the short distance (20 minutes) that is very well indicated and where all plants of great interest have identifying cards! Then we leave to go home.

6-day: After the many kilometres covered yesterday, today we will limit ourselves to the North of Large Lands. We arrive to Morne-à-l'Eau crossing an extended area of sugar cane fields. From here towards Vieux Bourg on the coast of the Grand Cul de Sac Marin: that is one series of water swamps, eau-forests of mangrove. The small village is delicious and here we find the smallest post office that we have ever seen.
Returning to Morne-à-l'Eau, you'll find another small village: Petit Canal. Here you can enjoy a great view from the top of the large square of the church.
At lunchtime we stop at Port Louis, a delicious village of fishermen with the characteristic houses in wood, and then we spend our afternoon in the nice beach of Anse du Souffleur - great for a little snorkelling.
Following the road from Anse Bertrand, you find a small street with many holes (so you have to go very slowly) that lead to the extreme point north. We follow the indications for la Pointe de la Grande Vigie that offers a huge landscape from its eighty meters of height.
We stop to the great supermarket of Gosier in order to buy some things to take home for friends and relatives: packages of coffee and cane sugar, spices and rum.

7-day:Today we give back the car and the rest of the time we lie and swim at the beach the Caravelle.

8-day: Today we will go to the main city, to Pointe à Pitre. The best way for going there is by bus, so you'll not have to think about parking and traffic problems. The bus passes often and you only have to make a signal to make the bus stop and also when you arrive, it's enough to play the doorbell. All this bus stops, makes your travel very slow, and in order to cover 20 km it can take nearly an hour.
On the bus, today, there is a really good humour, perhaps because it is Saturday and everybody go to the city centre to make purchases... but also the reggae music makes people happy!
With only 10 F, we arrive in the heart of the city, just at the great Place de the Victoire.
First we enter the colourful market: the market of the Dock. Here, women who sells fruit and spices assault me trying to convince me to acquire their products. Very disappointed by this attitude, we go away and enter the tourist office where someone gives us a map of the city centre. We soon find the covered where a boy offers us a piece of cane sugar to suck.
We continue in order to arrive at the Schoelcher Museum built in 1887 to number 24 of rue Peynier. Part of its patrimony of art is shown as a reminder of the cause he supported: the abolition of the slavery.
Particularly damaged from the cyclone of 1928, the building has been entirely restored in 1985.
We go back to the bus stop passing by the flowers market, and returning to Place de la Victoire where we stop and eat our sandwiches. In the afternoon we return to the beach of St. Anne to relax.
In the evening Mr.Michel organises a little welcome to the other family arrived. Good music, some nice talk and a Ti-punch then he suggests us a very nice place where we can eat a good lobster. It is a small restaurant close to the fish market, just in river of the sea: "Le vieux temp" . We arrive a little late, but the kind Mrs. Anne welcomes us with accras, three half lobsters and pineapple for 100F each.
9-day: Today it is Sunday and as it is all closed, we decide to relax and stay in the beautiful beach the Caravelle.

10-day: From today we have rented the car for other three days. We pass throughout the Route de la Traverseé to stop to the Cascade aux Ecrevisses (waterfall). From the parking it leaves a short path which takes you to the waterfall. The leap of waters is rather modest but the place is of a rare beauty, moreover, these waterfalls are known as the more easily accessible and every year they have nearly 400,000 visitors.
But it is too soon for us to have a bath in these fresh waters, so we leave and go to the botanical park and its small zoo. Here we find the small Ti-racoon (The symbol of the park) locked up in small cages while they turn round nervously. The anger for this prevents us from enjoying the beautiful plants that encircles us.
We arrive to the coast just in time to go on to the boat with glass bottom (Nautilus) in departure from the grey beach of Melendure towards little island "Pigeon." Here you can find the protected submarine area, where captain Cousteau turned its famous documentary: "the world of silence" who won the Cannes Festival. The tour lasts nearly an hour comprehensive of a wonderful bath in order to observe the coralline barrier.
For lunch we stop at a kiosk along the road, then we join the city of Basse Terre in order to see the volcano Soufrière (1467 m). From the Capital (Basse Terre) you follow the road to St.Claude and continue climbing the mountain. But the top of the volcano is covered from clouds and the road is too hard, so we change direction and go to the beautiful beach of Grande Anse (a Trois Rivière) and its incredibly black sand.
Then you can go back to Pointe a Pitre following the main road along bananaries and the l'Allée Dumanoir (near Capesterre Belle Eau): 1.2 km of road with real palms planted in 1850.

11-day: Today we will complete the visit of the Basse Terre. It remains to see the Waterfalls of Carbet, that are so beautiful to be famous for having attract Cristoforo Columbus who was sailing to Hispaniola. To Capesterre Belle Eau we are surprised by a typical tropical shower that forces us to stop. 10 minutes and sun is shining, so we can leave to the waterfalls.
We start climbing mountains but it's too hard and the road is too tight and steep, so we park our car to the "jardins de Saint Eloi", one of the many place who sells flowers all around the world and you can enter free and see some splendid plants.
We go to the splendid beach of St.Marie good for snorkelling as the coralline barrier is quite near to the river. We have a second pause for a bath in Anse à Sable who, instead, is characterised from moved and high waters. Then we leave for the Botanical Park of Domaine de Vallombreuse where you may admire the spectacular Caribbean flora. We have our lunch on the restaurant in a splendid place just in the forest. The restaurant, for its particularly nice position, is a little expensive, but we take some optimal salads.
To visit the entire garden you need some hours and you may loose much time in the great aviary where you can enter and stay to observe birds.
Returning towards St.Anne we make a last break to the beach of St. Francois just on the beginning of the Pointe Canot. This is a little natural park with mangrove and cliffs on which sea birds stay. Here all the points of naturalistic are well marked.

12-day: At this point of the journey we can finally stay long under this sun. So we can go to the beach of Pointe des Chateaux where you can hardly find a shadow, as it is hard to find vegetation in this windy coast.
The water is protected from the violent and dangerous waves of the ocean, thanks to the coralline barrier. Here it is optimal for a little snorkelling as waters are not very deep but equally clean to observe the submarine life. Also the beach has pink sand because of coral. Even in the puddles along seaside, it is possible to find the colourful very small fishes! We stay all morning and leave for lunch when it starts to be too hot!
We return to St.Francois in order to eat in the nice restaurant along the sea where we had been the 4th day. While parking we have the fortune to assist to the arrival of a fisherman boat. The men start sell fish and better pieces are acquired in few minutes, and while fishermen go on selling and preparing fish, we eat appetiser of accras, octopus and lambis (a conch) with the usual 50 F each.
We spend the afternoon relaxing in the beach Les Raisins Clairs! We stop at the supermarket 8 to huit of St.Anne in order to acquire the last few bottles of Rhum to carry to Italy like souvenir and some small packages of the local coffee.

13-day: Today we have no car, so we go to the beach near the Caravelle. The evening we go eating at Mrs. Anne tasting again some optimal lobsters.

14-day: Last day. In the afternoon we will have to take the flight for Paris, so we relax in the morning at the beach and go back home for lunch and to reorder and clean the apartment. We give back the keys to our kind host who takes us to the airport.