Chasing Summer –

November 18 & 19th

Monday morning, we headed to Fort-de-France, Martinique, for two days. After the sleepy towns on our previous islands, Fort-de-France looked more modern at first glance.

The Odyssey had put out a notice about our visit to Martinique and advised caution in our visit. I do think that it wasn’t needed. Everyone in our tourist area was friendly and helpful. You could see evidence of disturbances from the past months, though, so I guess better safe than sorry.

After a delicious breakfast on board, Angela, Steve, and I did our usual tour of the city. Most of the must-sees, I could see from the boat again.

Unlike our last few ports, the end of the pier wasn’t a huge mall or duty-free section. We were released into the wild, and only one taxi person asked if we wanted a ride and easily took no for an answer. It felt a little weird.

Once we passed the exit, there was a colorful painted boardwalk leading into the downtown section of the city.

Even though I thought pulling in that Fort-de-France was more modern and larger, there wasn’t much to do in town. Shopping seemed to be the most common activity here with plenty of shops and markets to visit.

One thing I did notice was that some of the things had better prices than previous islands for clothing and some souvenirs. This island is also French and uses the euro. Part of the social and economic upheaval in the past few months had to do with the costs of things.

Many of the shop front remained closed both days we were there and I wonder if they are empty of business.

Besides the shopping, there were a few interesting buildings to go to and see.

My favorite building was the Bibliotheque Schoelcher. It was constructed in Paris and originally was in the 1889 World Exposition. It was closed on Monday morning when we visited, but photography is not allowed in the interior anyway.

Across from the library are these buildings, Prefecture of Martinique, or the local government offices.

Beside the government buildings is Pavillon Bougenot, which looks important and is connected to the library. When I looked up its function I discovered that it is an internet cafe. I was surprised that this even exists anymore, and it shows that the internet is not readily available in all homes.

Further into the downtown core is the Ancien Palais de Justice (Old Courthouse). The former courthouse now houses shops and art displays. I also noticed that the statue here and in several other locations had been removed. I do wonder if they were torn down during the protests.

Across from the Old Courthouse is the Court of Appeal, the new courthouse.

One more block away, we came to the Saint Louis Cathedral. Its spire reaches 59 meters and can be seen from all over the city. Its framework is constructed of metal to withstand various natural disasters. The same architect designed the library.

The downtown core consists of about 10 blocks of streets lined with shops and restaurants and is very easy to navigate.

The Old Town Hall is now a theatre with a fountain and garden outside.

One of the buildings I could see from the ship but didn’t walk to was Chapelle du Calvaire (Chapel of Calvary). It is perched atop a hill about halfway up town. It was blessed in 1874 and has amazing views of the city below it.

One of my favorite things to see in any city is the murals that are commissioned and the ones that are graffiti, so I was happy to find a few.

The afternoon of the first day was heavy rain, and I hid inside the ship and visited with others rather than heading out again.

Day two began with a poor weather forecast, calling for rain all day. A few of us, JR, Rina, Paul, James, and I, decided to take our chances and head to a nearby beach.

We hopped on a local bus and rode it for 10 minutes up the freeway to a casino and then walked from there down to the water.

After a refreshing dip in the water, I walked back downtown 45 minutes away.

Most of the walk was along the main road and not very appealing, but occasionally, an interesting mural or statue would pop up.

In town, I went to a shop I had visited the day before and picked up some discount hair dye at 1 euro a tube. Who knows how long it will last, but for that price, I can think of it as a colored deep conditioning of the hair.

After two days in Martinique, the sun set, and we set sail for Dominica.