Barbados
So on the 6th July 2008 we found ourselves onboard a Virgin aircraft bound for 2 weeks of sunshine in Barbados. The 8 hour flight passed very quickly and soon enough we were being welcomed in the arrivals hall by a lovely Bajan gentleman, sporting our name on a board, ready to whisk us away to the Almond Beach Village in Speightstown. We had a very comfortable journey and picked up a lot of local knowledge on the way, bus routes, places to visit, etc.
We spent the first few days settling in - well, we had to take full advantage of the beautiful blue sea, gorgeous sandy beach and the glorious sunshine!
One morning we took a trip into Bridgetown for some Duty Free shopping. There are a good selection of stores selling jewellery, perfume, handbags, sunglasses, etc. and well worth a visit. Our trip was organised on a complimentary basis by the hotel, but it is very easy to use the public transport in Barbados. This is something they highly recommend as they want to highlight the fact that Barbados is a safe destination where locals and tourists can be at one.
Cricket is an extremely popular sport in Barbados and one which is taken very seriously by the Bajan people. So much so that one of the excursions was a 'Beach Picnic' with barbecue and cricket match between the guests and locals! It was definitely a memorable day.
We hired a car one day and took ourselves off armed with a picnic, camera and map. The roads are well signposted and we managed to find our way around very easily. Our first point of call was the Animal Flower Cave at the northernmost tip of the island - we enjoyed our trip down to the cave to see the sea anemones and then we spent some time sat watching the waves crashing against the most spectacular cliffs - it was bliss.
We found some wonderful view points and were taken aback by the beauty of the island, the east coast has to be visited to be appreciated. We took ourselves down a dirt track which led to an isolated beach - it was absolutely fabulous - there we were, sat alone on a gorgeous white sandy beach watching huge waves crashing (you can't swim in the sea on the east coast because of the strong undercurrent) - it felt quite surreal and a truly 'at peace, away from it all' moment.
We spent the whole day visiting various beaches and sights and were so pleased that we had hired a car - we hadn't really 'seen' Barbados until that point. My recommendation would be to hire a car for at least three days, there is so much to see and do.
I had been told that Barbados is a lovely island, that the people are welcoming and friendly and the weather is superb - I can only agree.