The spice island
Seasoned with history and hospitality
Maura Curley
It's known as spice island, because of the rich crop of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, pimento and bay leaves harvested on its fertile terrain. But a getaway to Grenada in the southwest Caribbean - about 400 miles from the Virgins offers much more than just seasonings.
The hilly roadsides are framed with all kinds of flora and fauna.
Driving through the parishes we spotted majestic mahogany trees, along with tamarind, calabash and bamboo. Farming and fishing - the old fashioned way with nets - still thrives in this place of abundant natural resources.
Grenada also boasts a rain forest, national parks, sensational sailing, daredevil diving, historic hikes, and some interesting architecture. And the island even has Muna monkeys.
In the 1980's Grenada achieved worldwide visibility following the U.S. invasion. And locals still refer to their lives as before and after the invasion, much the way we in the Virgins mark time according to hurricanes.
Grenada is below the hurricane belt, but it has been hit with devastaing hurricanes, and has had a stormy economic history, with Indian, Spanish, French and English battling over ownership. The treaty of Versailles in 1783 ceded the island to Britain, and though it is now an independent nation state, it still retains many English influences.
Grenadians are friendly people who realize the importance of being hospitable to visitors. The Department of Tourism works seven days a week introducing statesiders and other islanders to Grenada's bounty.
St.Georges, the most populated parish of the island, is built on a hill overlooking the scenic Carenage Harbor, rimmed with warehouses and populated with fishing boats and sloops from the nearby island of Carriacou.
An historic walking tour of St. Georges will have you weaving your way through cobblestone streets to forts, a cathedral, churches and Houses of Parliament. Market Square hosts a vendors market - with a colorful patchworks of stalls that sell fruits, vegetables, and sundries.
Scenic Carenage Harbor, rimmed with warehouses and populated with fishing boats and sloops from the nearby island of Carriacou.
virginvoices.com photo by D.B. Bostdorf
Maura Curley is publisher of virginvoices.com.
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