Barbados

From MaxTravelz

Barbados is an island (Area: 431 sq km) in the Caribbean, or West Indies, northeast of Venezuela, in Central America, lying between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is portrayed as the little England of the Caribbean because of its long association as a British colony.

Contents 1 Cities 2 Other destinations 3 Understand 4 Get in 4.1 By plane 4.2 By boat 5 Get around 6 Talk 7 Buy 8 Eat 9 Drink 10 Sleep 11 Learn 12 Work 13 Stay safe 14 Stay healthy 15 Respect 16 Contact

Cities

Barbados has the following towns and cities:

• Bridgetown - Capital
• Bathsheba
• Holetown
• Oistins
• Speightstown

Other destinations

• South Coast -- The south coast is made up of several very small towns strung along the coast. Most of the budget hotels, guesthouses, and apartment are located here. Towns include Hastings, Rockley, Worthing, St.Lawrence, Oistins, Silver Sands and Maxwell.

Understand

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.

Locals refer to themselves as Bajans and things Barbadosian as Bajan.

Get in

By plane

For its size, Barbados boasts a large international airport with dozens of flights arriving in the high season from the UK and Canada as well as the United States.

Buses run from a stop across the road from the airport up the coast to Bridgetown, but a taxi is the most convenient way to get to your hotel on arrival.

By boat

Many cruise ships dock in Bridgetown, and in fact the Bridgetown deep water harbour has just been expanded to accommodate even more vessels. Private moorings are available around the island. Note- stiff penalties prohibit the dropping of anchors on coral reefs. Example: Yacht drops anchor off Weston - February 12th, 2006

Get around

The bus system is extensive, cheap, and fast -- if you're headed to somewhere on the main route, but a car (or mini-moke) is the only way to see many of the out-of-the-way sights. Many of the drivers will hold a bus for you if they see you're from out of town reflecting the typical welcoming spirit.

There are also more than enough taxis to take you wherever you need to go on the island for reasonable prices.

Mopeds and bikes can also be rented, on the island, to explore sites that aren't easily reached by cars.

Another fun way to get around is to rent a moke available from any number of local car rental agencies.

Talk

Bajans speak English with plenty of local terms thrown in.

Buy

The local currency is the Bajan dollar, but US dollars are accepted just about everywhere in shops and restaurants. The exchange rate is fixed at 2 Bajan dollars to the US Dollar. Keep in mind that exchangers in hotels may insist on taking an additional percentage of the exchange (typically 5%). Lots of duty free shops in Bridgetown catering to the cruise liner trade, where you can buy jewellery, etc.

Eat

• Flying fish -- the icon of the islands is found on coins, bills, and menus. Flying fish is usually served lightly breaded and fried, with a yellow sauce. Be warned: this yellow sauce consists of VERY hot Scotch Bonnet peppers with onions in a mustard sauce.
• Pepperpot -- a dish of long tradition and great pride among the Bajans, it is a pork stew in a spicy dark brown sauce. Don't miss this.
• Try "fish cutters," a local sandwich.
• Visitors seeking fast food will probably be disappointed; the titanic burger chains of the US failed miserably upon introduction to Barbados (Bajans eat nearly no beef). However, chicken and fish sandwiches are wildly popular, so KFC and Chefette are ubiquitous.
• Bajan cuisine is a strange mix of spicy, flavorful treats along with bland traditional English faire. So be prepared for meals where firey stews sit side-by-side with beans on toast.
• Every Friday night the place to be is the town of Oistins (on the south coast) for the "fish fry". This is a market where you can buy fresh fish cooked according to local recipes. Locals stay there late and dance until the early hours of the morning. This is now the second most popular tourist attraction on the island, after Harrison's Cave.
• There are many fine restaurants on the island with the top two being The Cliff (on the west coast) and The Restaurant at South Sea (on the south coast). Still, you can find many hidden gems if you look hard enough.

Drink

Rum and rum drinks are featured at every bar. Beer and wine is easy to find as well. Banks beer is Barbados' own beer and very good.

Sleep

Barbados offers everything from inexpensive guest houses with bed and breakfast from under $40.00 U.S daily for a single in the summer to luxury accommodations at some of the world's best hotels at $1,600 in the prime season.

Barbados apartments and apartment hotels offer the comfort of a hotel room combined with the convenience of your own cooking facilities. Most are located on/near the beach and are especially suitable for families. There is a wide selection of luxury villas and cottages available for rent throughout Barbados. Many of these villas and cottages are located on or near the beach.

Privately owned vacation rentals are often rented at much lower costs than hotel or resort rooms. There is a wide selection of these holiday properties available throughout Barbados and many are located on or near the beach. Vacation properties range from beach houses to condos and apartments.

• Bajan Breeze Guest House - Beautiful guesthouse rooms US $49 with private bath in a newly renovated home. 2-minute walk to beaches. Convenient to dining, shops, nightlife, transport, and attractions.

• Sunset Blue Villa - A luxury villa and apartment located near Holetown in the parish of St. James. Ten minute walking distance to beaches, restaurants, and shops. Features wireless broadband internet access.

Learn

• Bellairs Research Institute is a teaching and research facility operated by Montreal's McGill University ] focusing on marine biology and environmental studies.

• Barbados Hospitality Institute Operates the The Hotel PomMarine

• Barbados Community College

• The University of the West Indies - Cave Hill Campus

Work

Stay safe

Although a very safe place to travel, it is generally suggested to avoid certain high risk activities. Such activities include walking on secluded beaches late at night, or walking in unfamiliar residential neighborhoods away from main roads.

The most common kinds of crimes against tourists include taxi fraud, robbery, and shortchanging; however, even these are rare and usually confined to high-traffic places like Bridgetown. Bajans are by nature exceptionally friendly, and will go out of their way to be kind to tourists, especially in the earlier part of the tourist season (November and December).

A special area of concern for visitors to Barbados is drugs. The country's strict anti-drug policy is made apparent to visitors coming through Customs. In practice, however, Europeans and Americans in Barbados can be offered marijuana or even cocaine frequently. Sellers will often roam the beaches selling aloe vera or other such innocuous goods as a pretense to begin a conversation about "ganja," "smoke" or "bad habits." As a result, many hotels and resorts now ban the use of aloe vera under the pretense that it "stains the towels." Regardless of one's inclination to using these drugs, it is not advisable to accept these offers. While Bajan police are not frequently encountered, they prosecute drug crimes with great prejudice.

Stay healthy

Beware of the sun, Barbados is only 13 degrees off of the equator and you can burn very easily. It is very important to keep your water intake high. Drink plenty of water.

Respect

Despite, or maybe because of the tropical climate, Bajans tend to dress conservatively when not on the beach. A bikini probably won't be appreciated in town and certainly not in church.

Contact

There are several small internet cafes located around the island as well as connections offered by the larger resort hotels.

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