Barbados

Barbados is a beautiful 21 mile x 14 mile Caribbean island located on the eastern edge of the West Indies. Approximately 250,000 people live in this British island that is known for its repeat visitors. Barbados really has it all.  Very nice people, diving, snorkeling, shopping, golf and nice resorts. Barbados is also a very lush and tropical island. You will see beautiful beaches and beautiful flora.

 

 

 

Blue Orchids Hotel, Barbados

We stayed 6 nights at the Blue Orchids Beach Resort. Overall we really liked this property. It was in a great location and the beachfront location was awesome. The maid service was just "OK". We didn't get great towel service, but we really liked the location and would return.
We were in the "C" block of rooms. We loved the fact that we were directly on the beach. The waves were so close that we would have to turn the TV up loud to drowned out the ocean. This is a GOOD problem to have!
We had a great room and a separate bedroom. But the unit still felt a little "small". The room was completely adequate, it just didn't feel "spacious". The hotel is within walking distance to an Internet Cafe, two grocery stores, restaurants, and numerous ATM machines.
Overall, we would recommend Blue Orchids. The staff was very attentive. The room was very clean, and we enjoyed our stay.

Places to Eat in Barbados

This was one trip that caught us off-guard when it came to going out to eat. Many of the nicer restaurants require slacks and shoes for dinning. When I go to the Caribbean I never take pants or shoes. (One of my rules) But this really did limit our choice in restaurants. So we ended up eating at "casual" places.
Sweet Potatoes One of our nicer meals was at Sweet Potatoes in St. Lawrence Gap. The dress was casual and the food was very good.
	St. Lawrence Gap is located on the water and has quite a few restaurants to choose from. We ate in this area two of our 6 evenings.
Cafe Sol A place that we would not recommend is Cafe Sol in St. Lawrence Gap. The food was barely warm and the margaritas were awful. On top of that, the meal was very pricey.
Treehouse Cafe We had lunch at the Tree House Cafe near Earthworks Pottery. The meal was just OK but the view was awesome. It is a nice place to grab a quick sandwich and look out over the island.
Surfside Beach Bar A nice beach bar is Surfside Beach Bar in Holetown. It is located behind the post office and it sits directly on the beach. The food was good and reasonably priced.  Great place to put your feet in the sand and have a quick lunch. I had the Roti and Carroll had the flying fish sandwich.
	Andromeda Gardens Funny as it may sound, we had a pretty decent lunch at the snack bar at Andromeda Gardens. Carroll had the fish cakes which were very good.
Bert's We ate at Bert's a few times. Mainly because it was across the street from our hotel. We liked Bert's. They have a nice happy hour each day from 4:30 to 6:00 where drinks are half price. The food here was also pretty decent.
	Carib Beach Bar and Restaurant One of our favorite places on Barbados was a funky little beach bar called Carib. It is on the beach in Worthing. We liked it because the location was great, the food very good, and the drinks were cold and reasonably priced. I had the flying fish and coucou for dinner one night and it was excellent.
Big B Supermarket We had lunch at the Big B Supermarket a couple of days. The plate lunches are very good and very reasonable. (Under $5 USD each)

Barbados Island Attractions

Harrison's Cave Harrison's Cave was an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. The tour starts with a very interesting film which highlights the geologic history of Barbados.  Then everyone is loaded into an electric tram and taken down into the caves.
There are two points throughout the tour where you are able to get out of the tram and walk around.
The last stop included a good size waterfall. Overall we thought the tour was worth the time and money. (Cost was $30 BDS per person)
	Bathsheba Bathsheba was a beautiful little spot on the opposite side of the island. (Near Andromeda Gardens) The beach and rock formations were beautiful.
Andromeda Botanic Gardens We also visited the Andromeda Botanic Gardens. Overall we felt the gardens were just OK. Nothing spectacular, but it still was a pretty place. I believe the cost was about $17 BDS per person.
	Farley Hill Farley Hill is a National Park located in northern Barbados. Then entrance fee is minimal and the park is really very beautiful. Farley Hill is an old plantation ruin.
Gun Hill Station Gun Hill Station is a great place to visit. The view is amazing from the top of the hill. The admission was only a few dollars and the grounds are nicely landscaped.
	The cannons looked like they were pointing directly at the cruise ships in port. Is that a coincidence?
After visiting the station, you drive down the hill and there stands the picturesque lion statue.
	Chalk Hill One day we drove up to Chalk Hill because we heard there were lots of pottery shops. But we only found two and they were pretty sparse. We recommend Earthworks Pottery which is much closer to town.
Earthworks Pottery is a pretty neat place. They had 4 or 5 people actively making pottery when we visited at around noon. The pottery was very beautiful. Bring your passports and they will give you duty free pricing.

Barbados Rum Distilleries

Mount Gay The best place to sample some real Barbados rum is at the Mount Gay Rum Visitor Center. The tour costs $6 USD and it is pretty entertaining.
There are over 1,200 rum shops on the island of Barbados. Mount Gay Rum is very high quality and you can buy it very reasonably. We bought a bottle of aged rum for around $12 that retails in the U.S. for over $40.
There is a sign posted as you drive onto the property that states "all cars should back into the parking spaces". I'm thinking it makes for less accidents as people wobble out of the tour..... :>)
	You can get the cheaper Eclipse brand for only about $6 U.S. per liter. Diet Coke costs more than rum in Barbados!
FourSquare Rum Distillery We also visited the FourSquare Rum Distillery. It is a really nice modern facility, but it was a ghost town when we were there. It looks like at some point, this was a major tourist attraction, but now it is pretty empty. The gift shop wasn't even open.
Old Brigand is one of the FourSquare brands. They also make a nice spiced rum under the FourSquare label that comes in a square bottle.

Barbados General Information

Car Rental For car rental we went with Stoutes and they were great. They met us at the airport, delivered the car, and we were checked in within 10 minutes. We returned the car by leaving it in the parking lot at the airport. Their service was great. At one point I locked the keys in the car and they quickly arrived and open up the car.
Barbados has numerous beautiful beaches. The beaches on the west side, near Holetown, were the calmest. (Shown to the left) The beaches in the south and east were much rougher. The beach shown to the right is near Crane Beach.
	Barbados is a good size island with numerous "activities". Driving is on the left. English is the official language. The currency is Barbados Dollars which are 2 to 1 with the US dollar. ($2 BDS = $1 USD)
We saw a mix of tourists from all over the world. Lots of Canadians, Europeans and Americans.
	Barbados has good shopping, nicely stocked grocery stores, and friendly people.
We found Barbados to be a little bit pricier than most Caribbean islands. But overall we enjoyed Barbados. Not our favorite Caribbean island, but certainly not our least favorite.

Barbados Lay Over

Shonlan Airport Hotel We had a one night layover on our way to St. Vincent. So, without any research, I booked us at the "airport hotel" in Barbados. How bad could it be? It was only for one night. We were arriving after 9 PM and leaving at 6:30 AM so I didn't think it really mattered..... Famous last words.....
The room was VERY basic. The shower had no hot water. The bathroom fixtures were 1950 turquoise blue. The key to the room was an actual skeleton key. (shown above) The lady who checked us in left us a phone with 2 quarters so that we could call her "in case anything happens". Nice. That's a real comforting statement right before calling it a night. So we do not recommend this place. Even for budget accommodations. We spoke to a few other people and they both recommended Peach and Quiet as a hotel near the airport. Don't stay at the Shonlan.......

Signs of Barbados

This one was my favorite. It was along the side of the road on the way to Holetown.
	I hate it when people dump coconut shelles!
I guess this means that management can't wash cars....
	These signs are all over the place. Very colorful and they have a nice message.
Remember to "walk at your own risk". I guess it is OK to run? This was taken from Crane Beach. Crane Hotel is in the background, up on the hill.

Carroll's Barbados Blog (2006)

Sunday, 12 February, 2006

(Blog starts in St. Vincent)

We slept I and then killed time in our room (19) until 9:45. We had plenty of time to pack. We then checked out and waited for our taxi to arrive. He was supposed to pick us up at 10 am. At 10:10 the girl at the desk called him and he said that he was coming. She got a laugh at his card because it said, “Courteous, Punctual, and Reliable.” At 10:20 she called a different taxi for us. We were at the airport by 10:30. Check in was quite painless. We stopped at the airport gift shop and bought some woven placemats ($25 USD) for 6. The girl said that her sister-in-law actually made them. 

The flight to Barbados only took about 30 minutes. We cleared immigration and customs and then met the man for our rental car. Stoutes Car Rental was very nice and efficient. 

We then made our way to the Blue Orchids. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we walked down the street for some lunch.

We ate at the Lucky Horseshoe. Dave had the Fish Steak burger and I had a Chicken Caesar Salad. We both had a few drinks. Lunch was okay…but since I had been craving salad it was good for me. ($35 BDS).

Our room was ready by the time we returned. Our room, 204C and the view was absolutely fantastic. We unpacked and did a little laundry. We then went to the store to buy supplies for the week. We bought breakfast fixings and goodies to snack on at the Big B Supermarket.

We sat on the veranda and tried to make plans for the week by reading all the tourist literature. We decided to have appetizers and drinks at Bert’s Sports Bar instead of eating a full meal. Since their specialty is daiquiris and we had a 2 X 1 coupon we each tried a yummy frosty drink. The sampler platter and drinks cost 70 BDS.

We came back to the room and watched a creepy Angelina Jolie movie called “Taking Lives.” 

When we went to bed we could hear the crash of the surf on the seawall. It was quite soothing…good sounds to sleep by. 

Monday, 13 February, 2006 

We woke up bright and early at 6:30 am. We enjoyed coffee on our balcony and then strolled along Sandy Beach. We returned to our room to enjoy breakfast on the balcony. 

After cleaning up we headed up the coast, through Bridgetown, and on to Holetown. We stopped and did a bit of shopping. I got my flags and Dave got a Tee-shirt. Note: if you plan on doing any duty-free shopping, be sure to take your passport and entry/exit card with you. You pay the higher prices at the shops if you don’t.

We drove on up to Speightstown and then headed inward to see the Farley Hill National Park. Entry was $3.45 BDS. There is a palatial mansion ruin that shows the wealth of some of the past plantation owners. The grounds are quite pretty to stroll around. Dave and I had plenty of time to enjoy the park since he had locked the keys in the car. We had to call the rental company to bring us the keys to get into the car. The whole ordeal took about a relaxing hour. : ) 

We then drove to Chalky Mountain and looked at a few of the pottery places. Although the pottery was nice, it really wasn’t that special…not worth the drive up there. We were stopped by a man to give us “directions” (which we already knew). He then promptly asked us for $20. We gave him some change and drove on. After buying a few small pieces we drove down toward Bathsheba. It was cool to see 3 green monkeys run across the road. 

We stopped at the Andromeda Gardens for lunch and a quick tour of the gardens. Lunch was good. I had fish cakes and Dave had flying fish sandwich and drinks (35BDS). Admission to the gardens was 35BDS for 2.

Driving in Barbados is quite adventurous if you’re from North America. They drive on the left side of the road. The roads are quite narrow. As a passenger you feel like you’re going off the road at any time.

We returned to the room to relax a bit and get cleaned up for dinner. We then drove to St. Lawrence Gap for dinner. Most places don’t open for dinner until around 6:30. Since we were early we stopped at Sweet Potato for a before dinner drink. Ricky was our bartender. He made a great rum and coke. He also poured us a rum sampler so we could compare the Mount Gay Eclipse and Mount Gay Extra Old. He was quite a sweet guy. We decided to eat dinner there on Tuesday, Valentines Day, and made reservations.

We ate dinner next door at Cafe Sol, a tex mex place. Being from California and having access to great authentic Mexican food has spoiled us. We thought the food was just so so and the margarita was not all that good. If your not a Mexican food/Margarita aficionado Cafe Sol is an OK place. 

We then went back to the room, stayed up late and relaxed on our balcony.

Tuesday, 14 February, 2006 

Happy Valentines Day!

I woke up at 6:30 while Dave slept until about 7:30. I relaxed on the balcony and watched the birds scavenge for left over chips from the night before. I also watched a Rasta Man exercise on the beach. He had quite a complex routine.

Once Dave and I finished breakfast, we got cleaned up and drove to Holetown for a little shopping.

We then made our way to the beach to find a beach bar for lunch. We came across a cute place called Surfside Beach and Sports Bar. Dave ordered Roti and I had the Flying Fish Sandwich. Both meals were good. As we were leaving a steel drum band from Canada had started to play. I think their name was Calisto Steel Drum Band.

We drove up the road to the Folkstone Marine Park. The snorkeling was not that good. Most of the coral was dead. He saw several people actually standing on the coral. The park itself was nice and clean. They had restrooms and changing rooms. They had a few stores that sold tanning lotion, beach toys, etc. They also had a small snack shop that sold sandwiches and beer. There was a life guard on duty and visible security. The park was extremely clean.

We then changed back into our clothes and drove over to the Mount Gay Factory and Visitor Center. We took the tour for $12 BDS per person. The tour was quite entertaining. You get to taste rum at the end of the tour. They also have a great bar and gift shop. If you plan on buying rum on Barbados, then buy it at Mount Gay. They have the cheapest prices!

We enjoyed our Valentines Day dinner at Sweet Potatoes in St. Lawrence Gap. They had a special sweetheart menu that included a glass of wine, starters, main course, and dessert for $80 BDS per person. Dave had the Blue Marlin which was a very firm fish. I had the chicken. Both meals were good.

When we left dinner we decided to stroll the street. As we were rounding the corner, Dave spotted the 2 guys from the Orange Cruise Ship that we had met in Bequia at Gingerbread. We visited with Scott and Aitor for a bit on the street and then the 4 of us decided to go back to Sweet Potatoes for a few drinks and to continue our visit. We ended up giving them a ride to their apartment which was not too far from ours.

Wednesday, 15 February, 2006 

Today was a laze around day for us. We were kind of tired so we basically sat around and read books all day. Dave took a break in the middle of the day to check email and run to the grocery store for lunch. Big B Super Centre has a hot food counter where you can pick up take away lunches. We each had a meat and side dish for $8.99 BDS per person. I had the short rib with scalloped potatoes. Dave had the baked pork loin chop with mac and cheese. (yummy!)

We cleaned up for the Manager's Reception down at Aquamist. (The restaurant at Blue Orchids) They had rum punch and a few appetizers. We stayed around for a bit. Since we weren't really hungry we returned to our room and finished our books.

Thursday, 16 February, 2006 

We toured the island some more today. Our first stop was Gun Hill and the statue of the lion. We saw a cute feral cat that followed us around. The view was beautiful since it was a clear day. There were two cruise ships in port and it appeared that on of the cannons was pointed directly at them.

Harrison Caves was our next stop. We paid for the tour ($30 BDS per person) and waited a few minutes for the next tour to start. The film was quite interesting in that it gave a brief geologic history of Barbados. Barbados was formed not of volcanic means, but by the up thrusts of the tectonic plates. The caves are fairly new by geologic historical means.

After the film they provided a tram to take you through the caves. The limestone formations were not as extensive as we have seen in some caves, but of course, these caves are newer than most caves we have toured. Nevertheless, they were nice to see.

Earthworks Pottery was the next stop on our trip. If you plan on buying anything, bring your passport as they offer duty free prices! There is also a gallery and restaurant next door. We at lunch at the cafe. It was OK, but the view was magnificent.

From Earthworks in St. Thomas Parish we drove to the Four Square Rum Distillery. The facility looks as if it was quite nice at one time. We did a self guided tour and then walked into the rum shop. The gift shop was closed. It is too bad because the facility looked nice but it was deserted.

We drove over to Crane Beach. It was pretty. On the way back to our hotel we stopped at Worthing Beach and it started to rain.... so.... we HAD to stop at the beach bar. It was a 2 beer rain that we stretched into a 3 beer rain. We like the bar so well, we will return for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Bert's. We went there because it was raining quite heavily and it was close. (across the street) Dave and I both had the lasagna. The sauce was pretty good, not too sweet. I was going to purchase a t shirt from them but there register wasn't working. We came back to the room and listened to music for a while before going to bed.

Friday, 17 February, 2006 

Dave and I decided to beach it today since it is our last day on Barbados. We lazed around in the morning and got a little sun. We then got dressed and walked to do some shopping. We then went to Big B to get lunch. Dave had the Pelau which was a chicken and rice dish. I had the Mac Pie and BBQ chicken breasts. Both meals were good.

We then just relaxed for the afternoon. Dave finally gave in and we played cribbage and listened to a little Jimmy Buffett.