All of these photos are from my afternoon in St. George's on Friday. I took the bus in by myself and spent a good few hours wandering around the historic sites. I paid a visit to the rather idiosyncratically curated National Museum (everything from "Grenada's soil is four-fifths clay loam" to "this bathtub is reputed to have belonged to Josephine Bonaparte"), and poked around in the market square, finally buying some great bananas and a bag of mace, a spice I've no idea how to use. I trekked up the hill to Fort George under the blistering sun. Fort George seems to have switched hands a number of times in more imperial days and is also the site of the execution of a Grenadian prime minister. The fort, along with most of the major historical buildings, is still pretty messed up from Hurricane Ivan - most of these sites are missing bits of roof and the stonework is all chipped. St. George's itself is a beautiful town by day. Though we drove through later Friday night and it was a little sketch, I felt pretty safe walking around in the afternoon sun. Grenadian men engage in a great deal of cat-calling (mostly hissing and calling you "sweetie") but it didn't actually perturb me, because nobody I encountered was especially pushy about it or took being ignored personally. Without further ado, a bunch of photos of my adventures:
Regrettably, the parade ground at Fort George seems to have been made into a hoops court, perhaps for use by members of the adjoining Grenada police training academy.
This gentleman obligingly permitted me to take a photo of him with his ceremonial sabre.
One or the other of the historical churches,
sans roof and under restoration.
Somebody's rum stash.
Cannons and laundry!
A south-east view across the harbour from Fort George.
Top of the chapel or some such structure at Fort George.
Most exciting van of all time.
Some historical meanness. The text is not clear, but basically this is a document calling W.H. Royce and Chas Bushnell out for being useless, and is signed by the entire crew of their vessel. Ouch.
Back down at the Carenage (the harbour).
If anyone knows what this little guy is, then do tell! I was wondering if it was the Grenada dove, but that is apparently very rare so I suspect not.
Regrettably, the parade ground at Fort George seems to have been made into a hoops court, perhaps for use by members of the adjoining Grenada police training academy.
This gentleman obligingly permitted me to take a photo of him with his ceremonial sabre.
Somebody's rum stash.
Back down at the Carenage (the harbour).
Looks like a mourning dove, but that's not listed on the Birds of Grenada Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Grenada). Probably the Zenaida Dove, Zenaida aurita. There's a good picture at http://www.flickr.com/photos/langooney/414066288/in/pool-birdguide.
ReplyDeleteMace is the husk of nutmeg, so it tastes kind of similar and you could probably sub it into anything you'd put nutmeg in. They used it in all sorts of cooking in Indonesia, fresh and dried, especially in sauces. At work we had a pancake recipe that called for a small amount too.
ReplyDeleteLOL about the clay loam and Josephine's bathtub. I think that's my kind of museum! And do I detect some coastal erosion of this clay loam in the harbour? With an artificial reef to stabilize the slope? XD
I was very interested in that! Because all of the layers were so perfectly exposed that they almost look quarried, and then there's a breakwater close to it. Search me.
ReplyDeleteHey, that looks like the right bird! Zenaida Dove it is. Thanks, Dad!