Martinique is a lovely French island in the Caribbean – with stunning black beaches, and quaint little fishing villages, and a tragic past. Twice, in the past 250 years, nature has tried to wipe out Martinique (or at least the human habitats on it). The Great Hurricane of 1780 produced a storm surge which killed…
This week, our Travel pics series has been F for Fort-de-France. Our final picture is Fort Royal. You mean Fort Edward? No, Fort Royal. Are you sure it’s not Fort de la Republique? No, it’s Fort Saint Louis, I tell you! Confused? Don’t be – I will explain, I promise! The naval base and fort at what is now Fort-de-France…
This week, our Travel pics series is F for Fort de France. Well, strictly speaking this isn’t Fort-de-France – its the previous capital of Martinique, Saint Pierre. Or what’s left of it. Saint Pierre was the first European settlement on Martinique. It seemed like an ideal location – but then The Great Hurricane of 1780 produced a…
This week, our Travel pics series is F for Fort-de-France. We were in Martinique’s main port for just one day – on April 9, 2015 – while on a 25 night cruise from the Dominican Republic. We were travelling on the MSC Musica, on what I thought was an exceptionally good deal – a ‘re-positioning cruise’ that…
This week, our Travel pics series is F for Fort-de-France. The capital of Martinique, in the French West Indies, is not a particularly large city – with only about 165,000 people. In fact, the whole island has only about 350,000 residents and about 7% of the workers are employed in the tourism industry. Amongst those are the…
This week, our Travel pics series is F for Fort-de-France. Today’s image is of Britain’s HMS Severn (P282) tied up alongside the French navy’s Germinal (F735), at Fort Saint Louis, the French naval base in Fort-de-France. We took the picture in April 2015, as the Severn was on the final leg of her tour of duty in the…
This week, our Travel pics series is F for Fort de France. And for Tuesday, it’s the Sacré-Coeur de la Balata. This is like a one-fifth miniature version of the Sacred Heart Basilica in Montmarte, and construction was proposed, perhaps not coincidentally, in the same year as its larger namesake was completed. It was built to cater for…
This week, our Travel pics series is F for Fort de France. It’s the capital, and largest settlement, on Martinique, a French “Overseas Department’ in the Caribbean. Fort de France was not originally the capital – that honour went to Saint Pierre – but that town was wiped out in a volcanic eruption at the turn of the…
The theme for our travel pics this week is J, for Jungles (and rainforests) – and for Wednesday, it’s Martinique, in the sunny Caribbean sea. An island in the Lesser Antilles, this is a French Overseas Department – meaning that is is a little slice of France, and locals are French citizens with the same rights…
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