Martinique

I did not get much sleep last night, nor did probably most of the rest of the passengers. Our ship was hit by extremely strong tradewinds and it rocked half the night accompanied by creaking noises––a bit scary. The winds were still blowing when we approached Martinique. We passed by Diamond Rock on our way to the harbor at Fort–de–France, Martinique.

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Close–up of Diamond Rock. In the early 1800s, the British used this 600–foot–high rock as a bastion. I cannot picture how they were even able to climb up on it.

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Sailing along the coastline of Martinique.

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Close–up of the coastline, with a view of the very modern high–rises here.

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Coast line to the left with a rainbow.

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Coming into Fort–de–France, the capital of Martinique.

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Fort Saint–Louis in on the left. We were going to dock to the right of it.

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View of Fort St. Louis from where we docked.

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View of Martinique from our ship.

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Avenue Francois Mitterrand. We must be in France! Actually we are, as Martinique is an “overseas department of France,” colonized by France in 1635. It is not an independent country. Hence, the currency of France, the euro, is used here. Also, French is spoken here, although Creole Patois in the official language spoken.

Martinique

The day tours offered through our ship today were “Tree Swinging”––a Mangofil Adventure Park, and “Canyoning,” in the heart of the rainforest. Neither appealed to me. I wanted to see the Sacre–Coeur de Balata Cathedral as my travel guide said that it is a replica of the famous Sacre–Coeur in Paris. I arranged for a one–hour taxi ride up to Sacre–Coeur and then a dropoff at Fort–de–France––in Martinique, you pay by the hour for a taxi and at high rates. Better to rent a car if you want to see the island. Driving is on the right side of the road. Photo taken while leaving the dock area.

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It was an informative trip up the hill to Sacre–Coeur––the roads were well paved and the housing along the route was middle class to luxurious. One of the houses along the route.

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Sacre–Coeur from a distance. It overlooks Fort–de–France.

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Sacre–Coeur de Balata Cathedral.

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I don’t think that the proper word to describe the Martinique Sacre–Coeur is “replica.” Perhaps it should be something like: “built somewhat in the style of.” Photo: The Paris Sacre–Coeur on the left and the Martinique Sacre–Coeur on the right.

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Photo: The Paris Sacre–Coeur on the left and the Martinique Sacre–Coeur at a distance on the right.

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Inside the Martinique Sacre–Coeur. I can’t compare this with any photos I took in France as no photos were allowed to be taken inside the Paris Sacre–Coeur.

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Inside the dome.

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Station of the Cross.

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View from the Sacre–Coeur viewpoint. I thought that my driver had driven extremely slowly going up the hill, but he drove even slower going down and I am sure that he was taking a slower route back to Fort–de–France. I knew that I wasn’t going to get back to Fort–de–France within the hour time limit, but I told him that if I didn’t I would just get out of the taxi as I wasn’t going to pay him for another hour . Some other passengers told me that they had gotten a good rate for a taxi sightseeing tour but that their driver had stopped at every souvenir stand that he could find on the route. They had to get tough with him as well and told him that they wouldn’t pay him if he didn’t cease stopping at the stands.

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Finally, I was dropped off, somewhat irritated, in Fort–de–France. I walked over to La Savane, a large park that does remind you somewhat of the parks in Paris.

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At the end of this tree–lined walkway is a statue of Napoleon’s Empress Josephine, who was born in Trois Ilets, across the bay from Fort–de–France.

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The statue was decapitated in 1991, probably because the people of Martinique thought that Josephine had supported slavery.

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Close–up of the relief underneath the statue.

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The Bibliotheque Schoelcher across the street from the statue of Josephine. The Romanesque–Byzantine building is from the Paris Exposition of 1889. It was dismantled piece by piece and then shipped to Martinique and reconstructed.

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I looked for a place to have lunch and found one near the Bibliotheque Schoelcher that was populated by either French tourists or expatriots. The menu was only in French, so it was a good thing that I remembered some French menu terms from my trip to Paris. I ordered a jambon et fromage sandwich and I had to do it in French as when I said that I wanted a ham and cheese sandwich they just looked at me funny. I also order a Diet Coke, which also got me a funny look, but I remembered that when you are in France you need to order a Coke Light. My jambon et fromage sandwich was exactly like the ones you get in France: a heavenly made baguette and then just a thin slice of ham and a thin slice of cheese. After lunch, I walked over to the street facing the harbor.

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Buildings seen on my walk around Fort–de–France.

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More buildings.

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Mural on the top of the brown building in the last photo.

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Side street.

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Another side street.

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Another street.

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Street scene.

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Street scene.

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This was my favorite place in Fort–de–France. It was a square with La Cathedrale Saint–Louis, built in 1875, on one of its sides. Its bell tower was built separately in 1895.

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The side of the church.

Inside the church. (I had to come back at a later time to take photos inside the church as the church was closed when I first was here.) Some people liken the design of this church to a “Catholic railway station.”

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The ceiling of the church.

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The altar.

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Stained–glass windows.

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Buildings across the street from the church.

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Looking farther along this side of the square.

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I was very surprised to see the Galeries Lafayette, a department store straight from Paris, across from the church.

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And also surprised to see a very Parisian advertisement on the side of the department store.

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A street off the square.

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Don’t forget to stop for coffee and pastry at one of the French patisseries. I didn’t forget.

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The Hotel de Ville (Town Hall), under reconstruction, at the end of a street.

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Colorful buildings.

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Close–up of photo on the side of one of the buildings.

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What else to see in Martinique? I decided to take one of the ferries to the other side of the bay. You just walk to the dock and tell the ferry attendant where you want to go. You can go to the beach or across to where some expensive hotels are. I went to see the hotel area.

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One of the small ferries.

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Passing Fort Saint–Louis on the ferry.

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Passing our ship, easyCruise I.

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View from the sea. This is still the island of Martinique––the island wraps around a bay.

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The hotel area. Many private boats here, as well as hotels and restaurants. There is also a beach. I did not find this area very interesting as it looked like harbors you can see often in other parts of the world. You can take a taxi from here to visit La Pagerie where there is a small museum housing momentos of Napoleon’s Josephine. I originally had planned to do this, but after this morning’s ride, I did not want to get into a Martinique taxi again.

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I walked around a bit and then got on a return ferry. A round trip on this ferry costs only 3 euros (that is, if you don’t misplace your return ticket stub and then have to pay a second time for the return ticket). View of Fort–de–France.

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In this photo, you can see the steeple of La Cathedrale Saint–Louis in Fort–de–France, and on a hill overlooking the capital, the Sacre–Coeur de Batata Cathedral.

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Another view of Fort–de–France. Two passengers on our ship told me later that they had been able to take a ferry to St. Pierre, the original capital of Martinique. On May 8 and 20, 1902, Mount Pelee, Martinique’s volcano, erupted and covered St. Pierre with ash. Thirty thousand of its residents died. In St. Pierre, there are ruins and a museum. It would have been an interesting trip.

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I found an Internet cafe in Fort–de–France and was able to e–mail my family. Then I started the long walk back to the ship (no, I was not going to take a taxi back!). Along the way, I went to look at the souvenir stands in La Savane (the park).

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Art work for sale.

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Various souvenirs.

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Dolls and artwork.

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Spices.

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Bracelets.

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Necklaces.

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Handbags.

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Christopher Columbus statue in front of the souvenir shops. Columbus landed at Martinique in 1502.

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Walking back to the ship past Fort Saint–Louis.

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Passing Place Francois Mitterrand.

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The walkway back to the cruise terminal is painted blue so you can find your way. One of the tours offered by our ship today was a Catamarin Tour (Sunset). I had signed up for it, but the tour was canceled. However, a special Valentine’s Day lobster dinner was being offered at the Sports Bar. I ordered it and it was delicious. But the day (night) had not yet ended. There was a Valentine Charity Raffle for ICROSS––International Community for the Relief of Starvation and Suffering. A raffle ticket cost $5 U.S. and to have a chance to win a prize (such as a bright orange easyCruise.com beach towel or four bottles of wine) you had to show up at the raffle––11 p.m.––because it was to be a media event––Sky TV was filming the raffle.