Pocket Barbados: A Highly Selective, Easy-to-use Guide (Pocket Guides) - Softcover

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Barbados: British to its Carribean Core



Barbados sits at the most easterly point of all the Carribean islands, partially in the Atlantic
Ocean and partially in the Carribean Sea.  It is 21 mi. long and 14 mi. wide, and relatively flat, the
highest point being Mt. Hillaby with an elevation of 1,115 ft.  



Beaches along the tranquil West Coast are backed by first-class resorts.  Additional hotels stretch
along the beaches on the South Coast, where Americans (couples more often than singles) tend to
congregate.  As on the other islands of the Carribean, the beaches of Barbados are open to the public;
all are lovely, with white sand, and many are secluded.



Toward the northeast are rolling hills and valleys covered by impenetrable acres of sugarcane.  
Sugar -- "white gold" -- exports led to great wealth and stature for the island beginning in the
late 1600s.  In 1846, almost 500 plantations covered the island; today, 1,500 small farms, without
the benefit of mechanization, can produce 60,000 tons of sugar each year -- given no cane fires or
droughts.  The high point of the year, the summertime Crop-Over Festival, marks the end of the
labor-intensive harvest.



The Atlantic surf pounds against gigantic boulders along the rugged east coast.  Elsewhere on the
island are small villages, historic plantation houses, stalactite-studded caves, a wildlife preserve,
and the Andromeda Gardens, one of the most attractive small tropical gardens in the world.



Barbados retains a very British atmosphere.  Afternoon tea is a ritual at numerous hotels.  Cricket,
the national sport, is also the national passion -- Barbados produces some of the world's top
players.  Polo, "the sport of kings," is played all winter.  The British tradition of dressing for
dinner is firmly entrenched, yet the island's atmosphere is hardly stuffy.  This is still the
Carribean, after all.