Barbados - Sightseeing

PO Box 3119, St. James, Barbados, W.I.
Tel: 1 (246) 434 3434 E-mail: info@skyviews.com

Barbados - Sightseeing

With miles of paved road, the visitor can drive to every corner of this island paradise and find superb beaches, rocky coves, dignified churches, charming wooden chattel houses, stately plantation houses and old army barracks - architectural styles stretching over 350 years all representing significant aspects of Barbados' cultural heritage. Places not to miss are Tyrol Cot Heritage Village, a mansion built in 1854 which became the centre of Barbadian and West Indian politics between the 1930's and 1960's; Francia Plantation House in St.George, a fine example of mixed european and caribbean architecture filled with antique furniture, prints and memorbilia. St. Nicholas Abbey in St. Peter is a superb example of late 17th century Jacobean architecture; Gun Hill Signal Station, built in 1818 to signal the approach of enemy ships; the Sugar Museum located next to the modern Portvale Sugar Factory allowing you to compare the old with the new. In addition the Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill near Cherry Tree Hill in St. Andrew is the largest windmill of its kind in the Caribbean and shows how sugar cane was crushed to make sugar for nearly three centuries. Barbados tropical flora continues to fascinate and impress at international events such as the annual Chelsea Flower Show in London.Welchman Hall Gully sports some 200 species of tropical plants and this cool, deep gully shows you what Barbados must have looked like to the original Old World settlers back in 1627. The Flower Forest, near Welchman Hall Gully , and the Andromeda Botanical Gardens in Bathsheba are outstanding in terms of the sheer variety and colours of flowering plants that flourish in gardens that are mainly left to their own devices. For those of you that enjoy a drink now and again there are distillery and brewery tours to see how the finest rums in the world are made and how our very own, and increasingly international, Banks beer is brewed (with a chance to taste and savour your holiday too, so to speak!). Barbados has plenty of beaches ranging from the thunderingly impressive to the idyllic duck pond. The east coast has its own dramatic beauty and is suited to long peaceful walks along the sea shore watching the Atlantic breakers crashing in. The west coast has plenty of attractions and some of the best beaches on the island where you can stop for a cool dip and something to eat. Bring a towel and swimwear as it's likely the beaches on the West and South Coasts will be too much of a temptation to simply drive by. Driving around Barbados is both utterly enjoyable and abit of an adventure. Alot of Barbadian life takes place on the road and the roads are frequently narrow, so do take care. Frequent stops at rumshops are the order of the day to catch some refreshment and any directions you may need. It is impossible to get lost in Barbados; miplaced perhaps, but not lost.