We continue our Caribbean cruise on the wonderful island of Saint Lucia. Here we’ll explore some of the beauty, history, and culture at Caribelle Batik, the Distillery, and an authentic colonial mansion way up the hillside.

Click on the first photo in each group and scroll to see the square photos at full size.
To start at the beginning of this series, visit Eastern Caribbean Cruise 2015.

Welcome to Saint Lucia

After more ballroom dancing by our shipmates, our next excursion took us to the glorious island of Saint Lucia and into the capital city of Castries – a town with lots of charming colonial buildings. At this fabulous port, we would see some of the beauty, history and culture of Saint Lucia by making stops at the Morne Fortune fortress, Caribelle Batik, The Distillery and St. Marks – an authentic colonial mansion way up on the hillside.

Carnegie Public Library in Castries

“St. Lucia is the sort of island that travelers to the Caribbean dream about – a small, lush tropical gem that is still relatively unknown. One of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located midway down the Eastern Caribbean chain, between Martinique and St. Vincent, north of Barbados. St. Lucia is only 27 miles long and 14 miles wide, with a shape that is said to resemble either a mango or an avocado (depending on your taste). The Atlantic Ocean kisses its eastern shore, while the beaches of the west coast owe their beauty to the calm Caribbean Sea.” – READ MORE about Saint Lucia

The Pitons (pronounced Pee-tons) are the twin peaks (volcanic spires) of Saint Lucia. The larger of the two – Gros Piton is 2,530 ft. and just slightly smaller is Petit Piton at 2,438 ft. Click for some photos of the Pitons, since I don’t recall our tour guide even talking about them. I think this was the tour where I couldn’t really understand the woman who was speaking. That must be why I have so few photos of things I would normally shoot.

The Distillery

You may think that my lapse in memory may have something to do with our first stop being The Distillery, the only rum distillery on the island. We thoroughly enjoyed the guided tour to see how this sweet nectar is produced, and then got to taste the sweet nectar first hand.

Kids in a Candy Store

They pretty much left us alone to taste whatever we wanted, with bottles of different varieties all around a U-shaped table and shot-glasses galore. This could have been a dangerous spot for us as we tried to minimize our cruise expenses by taking advantage of the freebies. Had there been some of the mix from the last tour to make the Bajan Rum, I would have been all over it.

Good thing straight rum isn’t as easy for me to swallow, so we did some tasting and headed in to buy a bottle. That way we could enjoy it several months later when we needed a reminder of the beautiful Caribbean. See? It was a poor tour guide, not my enjoyment of the sweet nectar that makes this blog post a little skimpy – photo wise.

Rhythm of the Rum Distillery Tour on Saint Lucia

Distillery Tour on Saint Lucia

Carnival Costumes

The tour included a video, a spice market and some recreations of carnival costumes for us to try on, which made for some interesting photos! It was meant  to give an insight into spirit of the Saint Lucians. It sure was fun, I know that! I also know that I have more pictures of the costumes and I’ll post them as soon as I find them.

Distillery Tour

Part of one of the carnival costumes on display.

Another Caribelle Batik

We hopped on the bus and headed on to another studio of Caribelle Batik, where many of the island’s batik creations are made. If you’ll remember my Saint Kitts blog, I gave a description of the Batik process and showed some fabulous photos of the beautiful landscaped grounds of the shop on that island. This stop only offered products made from the dyed fabric, which was nice because after wishing I had bought something at the last stop, I was able to buy it here.

Although there was no demonstration of the process, which I thoroughly enjoyed at the previous stop, this shop was located in an old Victorian mansion with fabulous views. It looks as though their website may be under construction, so there’s not much info on there, but all in all, it was a very nice stop.

We were supposed to go to Morne Fortune next – a 17th century strategic outpost that was a key battleground during the fight for Saint Lucia’s colonization, but somehow we missed that, because I don’t recall the fortress at all, and I surely would have taken some pictures. Maybe it was the rum? Maybe it was the tour guide again. I’ll go with her, because when I looked at the photos in the link above of the fortress, we did not see it. Oh well.

I do remember the fabulous views and the gentleman that let me take his picture. He was just one of the colorful characters of this fabulous island, who weaved hats out of the local vegetation. The photos below were taken when we stopped at an overlook with great views of Marigot Bay.

Great views of Marigot Bay.

One of the colorful gentlemen of Saint Lucia

Great views from St. Mark’s on Saint Lucia

The Governor’s Mansion in Saint Lucia

An Authentic Colonial Mansion

Next stop was St. Marks – an authentic colonial mansion with a spectacular view of the harbor and Castries. For a great photo of the outside, click HERE. We had a great guided tour of the house and some traditional Saint Lucian snacks and rum punch. From the fabulous wrap-around porch we could see our ship docked in the harbor below. The gorgeous tree in front of the porch was easy to spot on our bus-ride back to the ship. It was nice to know right where we had been and how high up the hill we went that day.

St. Mark’s was an authentic colonial mansion high on the hilltop on Saint Lucia

The landmark tree we could see after our descent down the hillside.

Our cruise ship docked in the harbor at Castries.

Time for a Break

We stopped to enjoy a cheap local beer, called Piton – remember the twin peaks? It is brewed by the company owned by Heineken. Of course, the locals prefer Heineken but we loved Piton.

We also had some great views as we pulled away from Saint Lucia. I could see coming back here, for the views, for the flowers and for the rum!

In the distance you can see the competition – a huge Carnival cruise ship – as we leave Saint Lucia behind.

Goodbye Saint Lucia

“Saint Lucia is the perfect destination, whether you’re after romance, rejuvenation or adventure. A genuine, natural landscape of gorgeous palm-fringed beaches, miles of unspoiled rainforest and the majestic Piton Mountains, are sure to indulge every taste. Natural waterfalls, breath-taking views, friendly locals and authentic culture impress the most travelled individuals for a holiday with lasting memories.” – READ MORE about why YOU should visit Saint Lucia

For a few more things to see while you’re there, visit this website.

Next up: Eastern Caribbean Cruise: Finale

Happy trails,
Barb