Leave Your Troubles at the Door
Categories: Caribbean, Barbados
Oct 24th
You may think it will be costly to travel and stay in the Caribbean, but in Barbados you can find cheap spots if you look. As the American dollar is worth two Barbadian dollars, and all the beaches being free to the public, you can make your money stretch.
If looking for a cheaper but great place to stay, look away from their resort-packed Gold Coast, and look to their less-populated east coast. One of these spots is the Peach and Quiet hotel. This 22-room hotel is set on four waterfront acres and offers a swimming pool and artificial snorkeling tank, and is recently renovated. This hotel is ideal for escaping, as they have no phones, televisions or guests under 12 years of age allowed. Rooms go from $89 to $109. Another one of these spots is the seven-room Sea-U! Guest House. Found on the hillside of the tiny town of Bathsheba, this colonial-style hotel offers ocean view verandahs and rooms with wicker chairs, four-poster beds and wood-slat walls, along with the sounds of crashing waves to ease you to sleep from just outside your room. Rooms ruin at $111 but by December 15, go up to $136 for the winter.
For dining, go to the southern fishing town of Oistins where you can go to an open-air fish fry and pleasure in generous portions of fresh marlin, tuna and snapper. The fish fry goes on every nut, but on Friday it is a popular spot with the music turned up, and the market turns into a street party. It runs about 15 Barbadian dollars to a plate. For a cheap lunch, go to the Indian Grill (found on the Bayside Plaza, Bay Street, St. Michael). At this take out spot located in a strip mall south of Bridgetown, you can enjoy their roti (a West Indian version of a burrito with fillings like fish and potato (12.95 Barbadian dollars) or the curried lamb (9.95 Barbadian dollars).
Though all the beaches in Barbados are free, there are a choice few that are worth the trouble. Tucked away on the southeast coast, you will find Bottom Bay, a rarely crowded beach that’s surrounded by high cliffs. To get there, drive on the H5 past the turnoff for Sam Lord’s Castle and look for a sign. Another is Bathsheba Beach. This soft, white-sand beach is located on the east coast, and has a wide landscape of tide pools and boulders. Though the waves make it unsafe for swimming, the natural pools are deep enough for soaking. And a last one is the south coast’s Miami Beach (also known as Enterprise Beach), with soft white sand, a picnic area shaded by tall pines, a lifeguard usually on duty and chairs and umbrellas available for rent, this place is perfect for lounging and swimming.
During the day surfing is a popular past time. If you only need a refresher course, go to Zed’s Surfing Adventures, where 99 Barbadian dollars gets you a 30-minute beach lesson and a beginner board for the day. And if you need more help, go to the Dread or Dead Surf Shop, where the first group lesson is 150 Barbadian dollars. And for the night, go to Lexie’s 24-hour beachside bar down the road from Oistins fish fry. On weekends the D.J plays songs from the 1950’s and 60’s. Another popular spot is Coxie’s Chattel Bar found on the north side of Holetown, this room barely fits a dozen people, but once in, Coxie himself sits and talks politics, tells stories and serves rum punch (5.50 Barbadian dollars). And Barbados, where Rum was invented, is the perfect place for rum tours. Go to Mount Gay Rum Tours and Visitors Center where a one-liter bottle of Extra Old is only 38 Barbadian dollars
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 10:05 am and is filed under Caribbean, Barbados. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
