Recommend Jan 2018 - 24

GRENADA

Views of Grand Anse Beach.

FASTFACTS

HAITI

BEST TIME TO GO: November through May
GETTING THERE: Delta flies from Atlanta and
New York (JFK) to Grenada
ENTRY DOCUMENTS: Valid passport
CURRENCY: Eastern Caribbean Dollar
INFORMATION PLEASE:
Grenada Board of Tourism-grenadagrenadines.com

Although new hotels will soon be opening, others are expanding
and renovating, and more cruise ships are visiting this southern
Caribbean island, GRENADA itself has not changed. "The Spice
of the Caribbean" continues to be a destination with firm roots in
agriculture and old-fashioned good manners. Grand Anse Beach
and the dive sites and the burgeoning chocolate scene? Bonuses.
SEE/DO: Take the ferry for a day trip to Carriacou, an Olde
Caribbean time capsule with gingerbread houses and locals who
hand-craft wooden boats of all sorts, including dinghies, fishing
boats, and sailboats. Have lunch on Paradise Beach, then take a
local skiff to Sandy Island, a barrier island preserve about a mile
offshore with terrific snorkeling, especially for parrotfish.
SIGNATURE EVENT: The annual Grenada Sailing Festival
Work Boat Regatta, scheduled for Feb. 3-4, 2018, is the real
deal. Instead of expat yachties racing on Beneteau sloops,
this event features locals from Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite
Martinique competing aboard built-by-hand wooden boats-
Gouyave sloops, Gouyave canoes, Sauteurs, etc. Grenadians
are serious boaters, but just the same, there will also be music,
food, and fun.
STAY: Calabash Luxury Boutique Hotel & Spa reopened in
October with bragging rights: It became a Relais & Chateaux,
one of only five in the islands. This small resort where the
employees recognize guests by name when they return each year
has always been a favorite of foodies and romantics, and with this
past fall's renovations, the restaurants, spa, watersports gear, and
other facilities have kicked it up yet another notch.

PORT-AU-PRINCE

This 200-year-old nation that shares Hispanola with the Dominican
Republic was one of the lucky ones in the northern Caribbean during
the recent hurricanes; it escaped Irma and Maria with roads, forests,
and beaches intact. An increasingly important cultural destination,
it attracts visitors drawn to its music, dance, historic buildings, and,
especially, its visual arts, what with Haitian paintings displayed in
museums worldwide.
SEE/DO: The Citadelle Laferriere, a UNESCO World Heritage site,
perches atop such a formidable mountain that many visitors approach
it on donkeys rather than walk it. It was built by Henri Cristophe,
the first president of Haiti, with 4-ft.-thick walls on a site offering
360-degree surveillance. Exactly how, in the early 1800s, workers got
all those building blocks up the mountain and secured them to this
aerie remains a mystery.
SIGNATURE EVENT: Fet Gede is a festival that cannot be found
in any other Caribbean country, because only in Haiti is voodoo
recognized as an official religion. It's also known as All Souls Day, an
early November holiday when visitors can observe believers praying
and making offerings at graveyards. Later in the day priests hold
services with African-derived music at voodoo temples.
STAY: The premier hotel in the capital is the Marriott Port-auPrince, a new build with 175 rooms and public spaces that tastefully
mix contemporary design with traditional Haitian art curated by local
luminary Philippe Dodard. La Sirene Restaurant is one of the best
places in town to eat, and the outdoor pool, fitness center, and
professionally trained staff are its equal.

The Citadelle Laferriere.

FASTFACTS
BEST TIME TO GO: November through April
GETTING THERE: Delta flies from Atlanta to Port-au-Prince
ENTRY DOCUMENTS: Valid passport
CURRENCY: Haitian Gourde
INFORMATION PLEASE: Haiti Tourism-visithaiti.gouv.ht

http://www.grenadagrenadines.com http://visithaiti.gouv.ht

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recommend Jan 2018