Barbados

Ah the beautiful island of Barbados!  It is situated near the North Atlantic and the Carribean sea. Its one of the most Carribean's leading tourist destinations and one of the most developed islands in the region.

Barbados

This trip was my second trip to Barbados.  My first visit was about 17 years ago (i feel old)!  Barbados has definitely changed within that time, its more developed.  I was visiting a friend then and experienced a different side to Barbados, visited parts of the Island and Harrison's cave.  This trip was for a wedding, Nic Spooner & Kevin Campbell, and also my birthday :-)

The Crane Hotel

The regional areas in Barbados are named after Parishes.  We stayed at The Crane hotel in the Parish of St Philip.  It's the oldest resort in Barbados built in 1884.  It was beautiful but very old, it needs a lot of refurbishment!  It has its own private beach called the Crane beach, with blue water and white sand, which is on the Atlantic ocean so with very high currents. We were told that the Carribean side of the Island is much calmer.  It also has a nice shopping section called The Village.  The L'Azure restaurant overlooks the beautiful Crane beach and The Carriage house restaurant overlooks the swimming section, which was extensive.

Nic & Kev

We had the bridal party dinner at the Waterside restaurant in St Lawrence's The Gap (party area) in the Parish of Christ Church - very lovely restaurant by the water, with good food and service.  The pre-wedding cocktail was held at the Old Ruins at The Crane.  We also went to Oistins Fish Fry in Christ Church, which is a street with different fish restaurant joints selling different types of barbequed fish, plenty of tourists and a staged area with music and dancing - very lively.  The wedding was held at Corrington college.  It was an ideal location for a beautiful wedding - it had a backdrop view of greenery and the sea.  The wedding was held outside on the grass and a marquee for dinner - a romantic setting and beautiful ceremony.  We partied into the wee hours of the morning......into my birthday.

 

On my birthday, it started off with presents and then we went on the Jammin Catamaran cruise which set off from Bridgetown in St Michael, the capital of Barbados.  The cruise was wonderful, very relaxing on the Carribean sea which was very calm.  We stopped on the way for a swim, snorkelling and a nice Bajan lunch!  We also saw the Jolly Roger party boat on our way.  We had dinner at Cin Cin by the sea restaurant in the exclusive area of the Parish of St James (most expensive part of Barbados).  We sat on the terrace with a view of the sea and had exquisite food - yum!  I can still taste it!  The meal ended with a dessert with sparklers and a happy birthday song.  We also stopped at the Sandy Lane hotel - nicest hotel in Barbados.

A truly splendid birthday!! and a relaxing and chilled holiday :-)