Barbados is a break in the Lesser Antilles archipelago, the chain of islands that stretches in a graceful arc from the Virgin Islands to Trinidad. Barbados is isolated in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 mi (160 km) due east of St. Lucia, its nearest neighbor. And geologically, most of the Lesser Antilles are the peaks of a volcanic mountain range, while Barbados is the top of a single, relatively flat protuberance of coral and limestone—the source of building blocks for many a plantation manor. Many of those historic greathouses, in fact, have been carefully restored. Some are open to visitors. More »
Photo: Corbis
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