Barbados

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.

Bridgetown, both capital city and commercial center, is on the southwest coast of pear-shape Barbados. Most of the 280,000 Bajans ("Bajan," pronounced bay-jun, derives from the phonetic British pronunciation of "Barbadian") live and work in and around Bridgetown, in St. Michael Parish, or along the idyllic west coast or busy south coast. Others reside in tiny villages that dot the interior landscape. Broad sandy beaches, craggy cliffs, and picturesque coves make up the coastline, while the interior is consumed by forested hills and gullies and acre upon acre of sugarcane.

Less »