How your views can change about a place in a few days

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When we arrived in Barbados to be honest it was not the best as a crew member was taken ill so we arrived early to get the crew member to hospital. So my first view was a big ocean liner which is not the most spectacular sight when you have come in on a tall ship, however, lets hope the crew member is okay now.



Once we had disembarked I must admit I did not think well this looks like a paradise island not in the least I thought is this really Barbados - I thought all the a-list celebrities came here so there must be more than this.



Ferida our host at our Airbnb though was so nice she had arranged for us to get into the cottage early as check in was not until 4ish and we had arrived in the morning. Ferida and Vic were not there to greet us as they were at church. So we explored the cottage on our own and it is really great and better than the photos on Airbnb and that is saying something.



So we went in the pool and chilled out for the first day until Ferida came back and dropped us at the supermarket to get some provisions. We caught the supermarket complimentary bus back which was fun as the driver did not know where Philip Drive was - google maps came to the rescue as we had only been in Barbados a few hours so could not direct him back for all the tea in china.



We met Eric, Sue, Graham and Sue for something to eat in the evening and really good news for Eric, Sue, myself and Mike that Graham and Sue are frequent visitors to Barbados (I think they could probably apply for Barbados passports, ha ha) and they took us to a little place called Shakers. This was the first time I had blackened fish - well blackened fish is with spices and I was glad I had a glass of water but the food was honestly amazing and really reasonable.



Still my view had not changed about Barbados but it is still early days yet. We all met up the next day and went on a boogie boogie bus to Bridgetown and then got him to take us all on to Speightown. Graham who we now classed as our tour guide (poor Graham) took us to Juma’s a little place on the beach which if you did not know, you would not find but it overlooked the Caribbean, such an amazing spot. Eric wanted to go to St Nicholas Abbey so off we trotted and had a trip around the old plantation house and sampled the rum. I am not going to say any more about the rum as Sue may read this blog and I do not want to dob Eric in on the cost of the rum!!



So the west side of the island is where Simon Cowell and all the celebs live which if I am honest is prettier than the south but not that much, however, this island is starting to grow on me and the people are so nice. I think us brits could learn a lot about Barbados such as manners on the roads and being so friendly - everything is not a rat race and being polite does not cost anything.



Anyway now we have a car it is easier to get around the island and so island exploring we go. We end up on the East side of the island at Crane beach. The Atlantic side of the island is so much different from the Caribbean side (west) it is more dramatic and the waves are really quite big and impressive although they say you should not swim on this side due to the undercurrents. Today was a big power outage day and the island had no electricity which to be honest did not cause us any issues as it was back on in the evening when we needed the air conditioning.



We went into Bridgetown which was a bit of a journey trying to park the car but we managed it. I had my head and heart set on finding a shop which sold the bracelets that I wanted and thought duty free would be the way to go. Anyway after finding the shop I must admit the bracelet was not much cheaper than at home and did not have the choice I wanted so Mike ended up a really happy man, ha ha.



We decide to do a bit of culture whilst on the island and go on the Garrison Tour which takes in George Washington house, the barracks etc. This was really interesting and at the end you watch the changing of the guard. Not quite up to our standards but really great to watch traditions being kept up.



Had a day with Graham and Sue which was great as we had a day going around the island and ended up at Bottom Bay then onto Bathsheba for a spot of lunch at the roundhouse - very yummy.



As the horse racing was on we decided that it would be a great day out and it did not fail apart from only winning one race and that was the won I threw my teddy out of the pram and did not place a bet - so the moral of the tale is don’t be a spoilt brat!





We are waiting to catch the plane now and really look forward to returning in the near future to the island - which if you would have asked me on day one would this be the case I would have said under no circumstances would I want to come back here it is not my cup of tea - mind you cup of tea what would I do for one of those at the moment!!!

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Photos

A day at the races
Not happy happy did not win!