the queen travels: St. Kitts ... the Jewel of the Caribbean

We arrived in St. Kitts (or St. Christopher as it’s formally known), that is a part of the two-island nation that also includes Nevis, mid-morning, Feb. 28. We made our way to Deck 4 to disembark. Jaz and I had decided to just do a walk-about here and I was glad as we’d had several days in a row of excursions and this would be a nice change.

Welcome to St. Kitts.

Little "safari" busses are the usual informal style of transportation in some of these places.

I always like seeing a cannon.

And what's a quaint little town without a clock in the square.

St. Kitts has a population of about 51,000. The island is called the “Jewel of the Caribbean” because of the extraordinary views. I wonder, though, because it appears that everywhere we go there are diamonds, emeralds and Tanzanite for sale. It seems these jewels are the biggest draw for a number of people, and I’ve wondered how much jewelry one could buy and wear. While I have a lot myself, it’s not of the expensive kind like that. My idea for here is not fancy jewelry; it’s Harley shirts, and there’s a shop on this island. Yahoo!! I’d been having some HD withdrawal.

We saw a couple of fountains.

But they don't have water in them, because??

As we wandered off, and into the main area off the pier, there was a multitude of little shops, and people vying for your money and wanting to take you on a taxi ride, here, there and who knows where. We politely told them, “No, thank you.” We wanted to stretch our legs on land a bit.

The buildings are colorful, as they’ve been everywhere on this journey. We continued to wander along and found Independence Park, originally called Pall Mall Square until 1983 when St. Kitts became independent from England. All we saw there were several Cattle Egrets, but no cattle.

A Cattle Egret, one of quite a few, in the square.

There was the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, where we met a couple from Sweden. I told him my grandfather had come from Stockholm and we had a nice visit, although with his accent I had a bit of a time understanding him. I believe it’s harder and harder … maybe my hearing is going? Too much motorcycle riding, I guess.

The Immaculate Conception Church had some beautiful stained glass.

Across the street from the church this palm tree looked like a fan.

From the church we wandered down a side street and heard beautiful singing. It was a service in a small church and a treat to hear. We continued our walk when a man on a bicycle came up behind us. Being a bit suspicious, I stepped back and looked. The man had on a uniform, no camo here, either, and his bicycle said “Police” on the side. He told us we should walk over a block and back towards the area around the ship.

Walking along the sea wall we spied a fisherman.

We walked over a block and along a sea wall for a little ways, then turned back and went the other way for maybe a half mile.

We also found a few abandoned, cannibalized motorcycles near the sea wall.

It was nice to just walk, although we did see buildings that were not probably what they’d like the tourists to see … run down, weather-beaten. But we weren’t far from our area, so were never in any danger.

These were the buildings they wanted us to see.

These were the ones they did not but that have so much more character.

We turned around and headed back to the ship as we’d walked in the heat and were now dehydrated … it was time for something to drink – Coca Cola Classic and then water, water and more water and a Pellegrino on ice for Jaz. Besides, we were going to the Crown Grill for dinner with Mike and Vangie … one of the fine dining areas on the ship.

The meal was wonderful starting with a trolley of meats being brought to the table so we could choose a chop, a steak.