Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is officially part of France, like Hawaii is part of the United States only separated by miles and miles of ocean. There are French products for sale in all the stores, the bakeries sell baguettes, and many of the beaches are nude beaches. Beauty queens have emerged from Martinique for centuries, starting with Napoleon’s Josephine. Her home is a tourist attraction these days. Other historical beauties have come from Martinique as well. This is where Paul Gaugin painted lovely tropical beauties in the nineteenth century, after all, and the beauty of Martinique continues to inspire artists and travelers to this day.
Paul Gaugin’s paintings made Martinique famous. They conjured tropical paradise and beautiful women, much like today’s travelers hope to find on this lovely island. His seascapes and landscapes are on display in the world’s best museums and can also be found in any art book. Many Gaugin artifacts are on display where he painted his famous works. You can look down from his old studio and see an old village below that was destroyed in 1902 when volcanic Mount Pelee exploded and covered the village, Pompeii style, in ash and lava.
The standard of living on Martinique is much higher than on other Caribbean islands. Citizens of Martinique have social and civil benefits of French citizens such as universal healthcare, long paid vacations, maternity and paternity leaves and more. The capital city of Fort-de-France is tres chic. It faces a bay, on which a ferry runs, taking visitors to tourist attractions and beaches across the way.
Although Martinique is part of France and the islanders are Tres Chic, they haven’t forgotton their West Indian Creole heritage. Zouk music, and cuisine will remind you that you aren’t actually in mainland France.
Things to see include Empress Josephine’s birthplace, a former sugar estate, now a museum. Called Musée de la Pagerie, it’s a beautiful stone building containing her childhood things, love letters from Napoleon, and antique equipment for the sugarcne business. Hear about her life as you tour the grounds.
Another sight in Martinique worth visiting is Les Ombrages. This is a botanical garden set on a former rum distillery. By the way, Martiniques are in love with rum! Walk the trail past bamboo, ginger, and an old mill.
La Savane is Martinique’s wonder central park full of bamboo, tall trees and benches. Buy souvenirs from the vendors and visit the statues around the park dedicated to early settlers and fallen soldiers. The park is off Rue de la Liberty, and you will see Empress Joesphine holding a locket with Napoleon’s portrait inside. The head was chopped off years ago and red paint was poured over the statue to the former empress. Many Martiniques believe that Josephine convinced Napoleon not to end slavery in the French West Indies so that her family’s sugar plantation could continue to prosper.
Whether you come to Martinique for the history, the beaches or the watersports, you’re sure to have the best Caribbean vacation ever, French style!
Tags: Caribbean travel info, Caribbean Vacation, Martinique
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 11:03 am and is filed under Caribbean Vacation, Martinique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.