Day 58

OCTOBER 27, 2019

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS


























This is the entrance to Bridgetown in 1967 when I first visited Barbados. I had sailed on a three-master schooner from Gibraltar (but that's another story, er stories). As you can see, in those days the careenage was filled with sailing ships and in full operation as a careenage. Now it operates as a yacht club.

The most popular band in the Caribbean then was The Merrymen from Barbados.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NghkV-dDa10

In those days one could buy flying fish burgers, drink rum at the John Bull Bar, body surf at Rockley Beach (the best beach on the island) and get banana daquiris at the Abbeville Hotel next to The Sweet Life Guesthouse, where Karen and I spent a Christmas holiday in 1975.

For those who appreciate flowers, be it known that Barbados is blessed with an abundance  of various varieties of flowers. Presumably the British imported most of them:
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNTyD4AJfyqYWSBl6JKxOBdrgnskHw:1572182225217&q=barbados+flowers&tbm=isch&chips=q:barbados+flowers,g_1:native:xuBoT1p9G0o%3D&usg=AI4_-kTnwa09huTOAWJqJWfIJrHnX9utBw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilpbmYw7zlAhVl8OAKHaOWDIcQgIoDKAN6BAgDEAk&biw=1163&bih=525

For the sake of nostalgia Karen and I walked from downtown Bridgetown to Rockley Beach. It seemed so much farther than when we used to do that same walk in the past. The Sweet Life is gone; The Abbeville is closed (the owner died last year); Rockley Beach now has a breakwater which has tamed the Atlantic swells that created terrific body surfing. However, the new bar/grill that replaced the Sweet Life's patio on the beach makes banana daquiris just as we remembered. Delicious!! Rockley Beach is now an ideal safe water playground for small children - highly recommended for that type of vacation.





On the music front, this introductory tune should bring back memories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9EF3p2up7I  Brideshead Revisited

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