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Published: March 16th 2017
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Janet with Mary & Don
in Forte-de-France Martinique It is Wednesday again, but this time it’s Martinique instead of Salvador. The ship came into port about 7:00 and was docked at 8:00. We had gotten up and had our “cabin breakfast” with McMuffins’ & Donuts from the International Café, and Tea & Juice from the Horizon Court. Then we reported to the Wheelhouse Bar at 8:00.
As soon as we came into the theater they asked if we needed the elevator instead of going down 3 flights of stairs. We agreed and got to sit near the entrance instead of joining the rest of our group down by the stage. 10 minutes before they sent our whole group to the buses, they let us go ahead via the elevator. There was still a lengthy walk down the pier to where the buses were, but the walk was much easier without everyone else rushing and pushing to get the best seats on the bus. There still were a few people ahead of us, but we got on comfortably and were ready for the tour.
This was a 4-hour tour which began by driving out of Forte de France (the capitol). We meandered through the
adjacent little towns while our guide gave us some interesting facts. For instances, we drove past a little creek that flowed into the bay – we were told this is where Columbus first landed on Martinique in 1493, but Spain did not have any interest in developing it. France claimed the island in 1635 and during the last century it became an Overseas French Department – with lots of the rights of French citizens. Slavery was instituted in Martinique for almost 400 years, ending in 1848. Initially the local inhabitants were enslaved by rich foreigners who built large sugarcane plantations. These slaves were not strong enough to deal with the work, so they started bringing in Asians as slaves, but they failed too. Finally they turned to using African slaves, who seemed to have the strength and held up well to the mosquito-transmitted diseases. During this time, the plantations also produced coffee and cotton, but sugar was its main crop. The end result is that 90% of the inhabitants trace their roots back to Africa with the other 10% scattered from many places around the world.
There are about 500,000 Martinique citizens. They enjoy many benefits like
free education and free medical care, but they have high taxes to go with it. But our guide said that Martinique is rated as having the best medical care of anywhere in the Caribbean. She also talked about unemployment payments, housing, and other entitlement programs. Actually it sounded like such a deep public trough that you wonder how they could raise enough money to make all the payments.
The first stop was at the Museum of Volcanology in the rebuilt town of Saint-Pierre. This used to be the capitol until it was totally destroyed along with the 30,000 residents by an eruption of Mount Pelée in 1902. The museum was very much overstated in the brochure because it was one small room with a few photographs and some mementos which had been unearthed after the destruction. They are rejuvenating the original cathedral but everything else has been destroyed and removed. As it was raining lightly when we were here, everybody got quickly back onto the coach.
The next scheduled activity was to drive around and admire dramatic views of the volcano. Unfortunately it was entirely shrouded in clouds and nobody could see anything. So
we moved ahead and went to the Depaz Distillery where we went on a tour of the facility. This is one of about 30-40 distilleries on the island. This was a “walk about” outdoors where we saw the raw sugarcane being ground and pressed to extract all the liquid. Then we walked past the distilling tanks where the liquid ferments in large vats at specific temperatures. Then we walked by the aging casks where the rum remains until it is time to be bottled. Finally we walked past the bottling facility and into the sampling/sales room. Everywhere except the sampling was out doors and there was a steady drizzle. In view of the weather and lengthy walk, Janet waited near the end point until our group got back. We both tried the “strong” sample, which had quite a kick. We each also got a sample of the “sweet” which was much more of a punch than straight rum. Here they call it “rhum agricole” (rum from organic sources).
There were plenty of choices which we could have bought (including by the 3-liter box) but we didn’t get anything.
Next we drove through the high hill country where
there is a rain forest. Along the way we drove slowly past a road which has been built (mostly a grassy path with memorial stones) to commemorate those who died in the eruption of the volcano – you aren’t supposed to walk on the road unless you stop and pray at each memorial. The road was very narrow and extremely winding, so we were certainly glad not to be driving it ourselves. Unfortunately it was still raining off and on so we could see a little but not really take any good photographs through the speckled windows. But it certainly was an interesting drive. There is an abundance of flowers blooming all around the island. Along the road we saw Banana Trees, Orange Trees, Mango Trees, and Coconut Trees.
The final stop was at Sacré-Coeur de la Balata. This is supposed to be an accurate recreation of Sacré-Coeur in Paris, but this is much less ornate. But we got is out of the rain for a short while and had a few quiet moments in the church. Then we drove back to town where it had finally stopped raining. Since the weather was dry for a while,
we walked back along the pier to the ship and got back about 12:30.
We went directly up to the Lido Deck and had a Hot Dog and Cheeseburger with Fries. They have finally restocked the lemonade and David got a couple of glasses. We observed there were a lot of people drinking the lemonade, so David wasn’t the only one who had missed it. Janet had iced tea with her lunch. Then we went to the cabin to hang up our wet things and unpack the backpack.
Janet found a movie she wanted to see on the TV so she settled into the cabin to rest her foot and exhaust her needlework hand. Since it still was not raining, David went back to town and walked around looking in many shops. He got back about and then went up on deck to try to take a few scenery pictures from the ship. It continued to sprinkle most of the afternoon, so he skipped doing his afternoon swim in the pool. As a result of all the clouds, the temperature stayed about 75 today.
Janet has told several people, “even a
rainy day on vacation is better than a sunny day at work.”
At 5:00 we went to get some appetizers. Today the special feature was sushi, but we found other things to nibble on. We both had the special drink – Japanese Slipper. It is a syrupy sweet drink. Our friends Debbie & Craig had their excursion cancelled today and tomorrow because of equipment failure (they had been doing something with snorkeling) and had just come from scheduling a replacement tour for themselves.
At dinner we were all present. Don & Mary had been on the same tour as us, just a different bus. Fay and Monte had taken an independent tour around the island. Everyone had rain most of the time they were touring. For our meal, Janet had shrimp cocktail, a bowl of bouillon, and North Carolina Pulled Pork. David had chilled peach & pineapple soup, fettuccini Alfredo, and Surf & Turf. For dessert David had butternut pecan pudding with butterscotch, but it turned out to be more of a cupcake with toppings than a pudding.
The show tonight is not until 9:00 because they are doing some Island
Party on the Lido Deck tonight is the weather permits. Since we have an early gathering time tomorrow, we may skip the show. So that’s about all for today.
It looks like there are 10 pictures today.
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