Martinique: Saint Pierre (the town)

Welcome to Saint Pierre.

For a town wiped off the map in 1902, it is doing pretty good.

Of course you get the usual tourist tat, but once you look deeper into the town, there are some lovely surprises.

But let us start on the sea front.

Saint Pierre has an incredibly long black sand beach which you will usually have almost to your self.

This is great for me, as sun bathers do not usually like me running about the beach around them.  White sand or black sand does not make a difference to me.  I enjoy them both as long as I can run in the sea to cool off.

I do have some company on the beach.

The human that owns this house has built his own pets and friends.

I was not fouled for a minute by his sculptures, but they were interesting pee posts.

Could not quite get my leg up on this one.

 

 

Most humans visit the town by car on day trips.

For those visiting by yacht there is a large dingy dock in the centre of the town front.

The few ferries or charter boats that come to the town use the North side of the dock, while everyone uses the south side for their tenders.

You will need a dingy anchor if you come to the Caribbean.  The currents and surge can bash your dingy about and even suck them underneath docks and piers, where they can get torn apart.  Just ask Tim and Natalie on Limbo.  They got a big tear in their dingy when it got sucked under a dock in St.Lucia.

You throw an anchor off the back to keep the dingy just off the dock.

 

The dingy dock brings you into the market square of town.  This square and the building behind it is packed with venders selling fruit, veg., spices, fish and meat on Saturdays.

Martinique gets enough rain fall to support a good selection of locally grown produce.  Even on a bank holiday you will still find someone out there selling something they have grown.

There some lovingly restored buildings.

As the majority of buildings were flattened to nothing more than bases with wall outlines, none are exactly like the originals, and may incorporate much different materials including a curved metal roof on the cathedral.

New homes were built on top of old ruins in the town centre, but as you move to the North end of town you discover more ruins not touched yet.

They have turned some of these into tourist attractions and put some oddities into their tiny museum.

The great thing here, only because my humans are cheap, is that all tourist attractions are free to visit except the museum.  The museum is only 3 euros to visit and has some great pictures of the city when it was a thriving capitol run port.

There is still evidence left of the city’s ‘hay day’.

The best preserved ruins are those of the theatre on the North end of town.  It’s proximity to a cliff helped protect it from the worst of the volcanic blast.

Let me try and take you on a tour:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are interesting murals that depict life as it once was is Saint Pierre when it was the capital city.

Once you have done the tourist attractions you will find lots of nice places to get a refreshing drink or snack.

The town also has a very nice internet cafe with a great view over the anchorage.

This is the ‘poshest’ internet cafe we have ever been in.  Oh so distinctly French.  You can even keep an eye on your anchored boat from the cafe.

We have been in Martinique now for 6 weeks and found the island very rich and beautiful.

But the one thing that will stay with us….is how warm and friendly the people are.

 

Now get your run cocktails ready (or your choice to drink) as here is your ‘sundowner’.

 

Just in case you think it is all a holiday here…

check out what the silly humans did!!!!

Some body got distracted by the ‘anchoring antics’ and let the boat drift over a fisherman’s pot with the engine in gear.

They do not make dive gear for dogs, yet, so they will have to dive down and clean up their own mess.

 

Silly, silly humans!