Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Gustavia, St. Bart


Gustavia Harbor

Build around the tree, rather than cut it down - nice!
Gustavia is quite an attractive old town, built around the harbor, which is surrounded by some quite steep hills. We wandered the streets around one morning, looking at the architecture, the ruins of Fort Carl, and some of the incredible prices in the shop windows. For example, you can buy the 750-ml bottle of Grey Goose vodka for 30€, or go for the gusto with the 4.5-l bottle for 365€. There’s a lot of hill-top, ocean-view construction going on, so apparently the economy is just fine for the 1%. The island was originally a Swedish colony (the only one we’ve come across in the Caribbean), so all the street signs were in both Swedish and French. Being a French island, there was easy access to trash disposal and recycling, and lots of fuel-efficient mini-cars, though we didn’t see the solar panels on the houses here that we’ve seen in Martinique or Guadeloupe. Down on the docks were, of course, the megayachts, as well as a ferry to St. Martin, and a yellow submarine with underwater viewing for taking tourists to see the reef. As I said, quite attractive town, but the need for a fat wallet was evident by the high-end shops and expensive little restaurants, including a champagne bar. Needless to say, we went back to the boat for lunch!
Pretty house with lush foliage

Adorable little electric cars-easy to park!
Le Brigantin - neat old building

What's with the freaky goat heads? Are rich people drawn to this type of display?

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