Spices4Sunsets

Cannes

    Cannes

A wonderfully cosmopolitan place made so by the famous Palace du festival which holds events like the world famous Cannes film festival.  Cannes is a beautiful town with an old town centralising round the port and a newer part of the town where all the glamorous hotels are right on the beach which is almost all taken up by classy beach bars, it will cost you an arm and a leg to have a day out at one but it’s a treat that’s worth it in my book. Be typically Cannes darling and have a rose lunch and then kick back and relax on the extremely comfy sun beds and watch the boats go by.

Whilst in Cannes its worth a trip over to the tranquil Islands, many people don’t realise that Cannes has islands but never the less they are there, no one lives one them except the monks, that even produce their own wine and its rumoured that “the man in the Iron mask” young Louis the 13^th was imprisoned there.

Bonaire

 

Bonaire

This is the most easterly of the Dutch Antilles so consequently the first of the Islands we arrived at. It’s a strange place to be. The local language being a mix between Dutch, Spanish, English and I think even French. The Island seems like a mix as well some of the smaller towns almost felt very Spanish or maybe like something from an old western and the bigger town seems a lot more European. The whole Island instead of being covered in the more typical palm trees, was covered with Cactus, I have never seen so many in my life, almost like forests of them, in fact I never even knew they grew in such abundance. I assume from this that the Island is not nearly as tropical as other Caribbean Islands. The Island also had pink flamingos which were nice to see, however considering how attractive they are themselves they live in muddy lakes so the areas surrounding them aren’t much to look at.  

The main activities here are wind surfing and now the more modern kite surfing, although the wind surf areas don’t like the kite surfers. We went to a windsurf resort for the day and it had a really chilled out feel with cool bars and cool people, a very nice place to pass the day in the sun I’d say.

 

Las Rochas Venezuela

Las Rochas Venezuela

Even though it didn’t feel that we had come that far from our last destination, Grenada, everything was so very different, even the deserted beaches had a different feel to them flatter with less palm trees I think. The small town was nothing like where we came from; no we were defiantly in a South American country albeit a part that had broken off at some point, bazillion years ago. The building were different the people different, and even the climate seemed to have changed from hot and humid, to super hot and humid. Although very arid and dessert like with not a lot to see on the land, the marine life was incredible, and this is the very reason people come here, I only went snorkelling and this was good enough the only thing I would have wished would be that I had an underwater camera as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reef crawling with such life.

 

Grenada

Grenada

We got stuck here for a while so I had a lot of time to explore. There is a very big busy market in St George (The main town) although this is partly contributed to the cruise ship dock right next to it. There is also a very confusing one way system in the town and they drive on the left in Grenada, being native English this should be easy for me but unfortunately it’s not.

There is plenty to do on the Island lots of white sandy beach, lots of nightlife, (with a university full of American med students you would expect this).

If you venture further there are many waterfalls, We went to the most un magnificent of them but we only had a car for a day and wanted to visit the lake in the forest as well. This was strange when we got to the higher elevation where the forest was, it turned colder and cloudier and suddenly it was clear why this part of the island was greener and less desolate than other parts.

This is the Island that produces a third of the words nutmeg, and mace, and consequently because I guess they’re proud of their nutmeg they seem to grate it on top of any cocktail you order in the bar. Nutmeg! Cinnamon! It doesn’t matter that you have too much of it don’t put it on everything.

In England I heard once we have too much butter, do we put that on everything???!!!!

 

Union Island

Union Island

This was the nearest place that had provisions to offer near to the Tobago Cays. After 2 days at there, where I bought the most expensive bread in history from a boat man (80 us dollars for 5 baguettes and 5 croissants, oh well helping the local community) it was a relief to find shops and markets. Although there wasn’t the most diverse selection of fruit and vegetables, (always aubergines/eggplant and carrots) there was enough. Also there was a little French shop with imported goods such as cheese and more importantly fine wine.

 

Mustique

Mustique

For me this was a very sleepy place or for want of a better word tranquil, most of the island is private so there is hardly any local population, the locals that are there, have legit jobs, but I’m not even sure if they actually live there or just go to the Island to work. The small area of 7 or 8 buildings is the town I guess, and that’s pretty much it...... Other than that I’ve heard lots of celebrities’ have properties there one of them being Mick Jagger. The beaches are beautiful but really that’s not that hard in the Caribbean.

 

Bequia

 

This little Island of 7 square miles and population 6000 (It says that on the sign post next to the market) has a great market, and I finally managed to get basil here which I’ve been missing for a long time. It’s not cheap though as most things are imported and negotiating the different market stalls to keep each local happy is a bit tricky and time consuming and you will probably end up buying a whole lot of things you don’t need just to be polite. (That could be just me).

 It seems to be a place for sailors I think it’s where a lot of people start a trip of the grenadines, which is probably why provisioning is quite good, people stock up before the head to the more remote Island, not that this is exactly the height of civilisation, but it’s something as opposed to palm trees and sand.

Shopping made easy

Shopping made easy

Normally you have to go to a market or a shop to get your fish or fruit and vegetables but in St. Lucia they come to you, Little boat men, In the above picture I’m choosing vegetables, the fish boat is waiting for me to finish then he will ask me what I want and then go catch it for me. I may not actually be the cheapest way to get your food and you defiantly need to haggle but it’s very convenient and you need to do your bit to help the locals.

 

St Lucia

St Lucia

Well as to be expected when someone is having fun and being busy there’s little time for anything else, hence why the blog slowed a bit whilst I was in St Lucia. There were luxurious resorts to go too, horse riding on the beach; two big mountains called the Pitons to discover, a whole lot of beach fun and nightlife fun, all in all a very pleasant little visit. I did still think about food a little bit so will post some more recipes soon

 

Dominica

Dominica

They call this the nature Island, it is probably one of the most basic islands of the Caribbean, but has lots of lush Jungle, with waterfalls. Loads of lush fruits and spices grow there, but the towns are very basic. I managed to get, avocados, pineapples, grapefruits, oranges and the spice nutmeg and mace, and I’m sure that I could have got many more.

This is also the home of the Indian River where they filmed the end of pirates of the Caribbean 2 when the go to visit the fortune teller lady.

Restaurants

It seemed like all the restaurants in Ills de saints had wonderfully bright signs.

Colourful bar, Isle de Saints

Guadeloupe

 

Guadeloupe

This is Lush Island covered in rainforest with very quaint little buildings; it has the rustic Caribbean edge, with all the French voices. Having the rainforest means there is an excellent selection of fresh produce and I was really pleased to find fresh vanilla, I’ve never actually seen vanilla in such a fresh state before. We visited a place called Isle de saints which is a very cute but touristy town, with little boutiques and restaurants. The building are all brightly coloured giving a very vibrant feel to the place. A lot of wind means lots of sailing and the bay is filled with little hoby cats from the sailing school. Finding fresh produce was not exactly easy unless it’s something very local or the day that the boat delivers to the Island, I was not there that day so I had to settle for not getting very much, although your always guaranteed to find carrots, probably because they last a long time. There was one little market stall with a little local lady selling some kind of preserve and cinnamon, but that was all It made me laugh a little that she didn’t have a bit more to offer considering she had taken the time to set up the stall, although i feel a bit mean now that I didn’t buy some of the preserve, it could have been really good, oopsy!

More English Harbour

Nelson's Dockyard

 

Nelsons Dockyard AKA, English Harbour

This was originally named His Majesty’s Antigua Navel yard, it became known as Nelson’s dockyard after a major restoration project in 1951.

Original construction began in 1725, and the dockyard was headquarters of the British leeward Island fleet during the late 18^th century.

The reason for the Nelson in the name these days is because, Admiral Horatio Nelson served as a young captain in the Caribbean Leeward Islands fleet for 3 years, from 1784-1787. In this period the Antigua naval base was greatly expanded. Nelson was the 26 year old captain of HMS Boreas.

The yard was closed and abandoned in 1889.

I obtained that history from various websites and tourist guides, and I personally think its a little disappointing, I thought maybe he fought a battle and died there or something, but he ho, no! Oh well a little history to wet your appetite for the next recipes.

St Kitts and Nevis

 

St Kitts and Nevis

I arrived at St Kitts where all the cruise ships come in at a place called Basseterre. At first I had to walk through the purpose built especially for tourists bit of town, I keep coming across these in places and a part of me thinks it’s a shame they build these as it means the bulk of the tourists are really visiting a place properly they’re seeing a sugar coated version.

Basseterre is the biggest town I’ve seen so far, since I’ve been in the Caribbean, but it was interesting to walk around, some of the building are new some old some great looking and some very shabby.

Unfortunately the market wasn’t open yet as I was there quite early in the morning and as we all know nobody does and thing in a rush here in the Caribbean.

Anyway my point being that I had to go to a supermarket to buy food, this seems to be the general trend so far, so it seems you either get to buy French products or more American products on the other Island, so I’m not just making Caribbean food, I’m generally making things from anything I can get hold of, with a slight Caribbean theme in my head.

 

Snow in the Caribbean?

Saba, Caribbean