On the southwest coast of Basse-Terre island, beneath the looming slopes of La Soufrière volcano and founded in 1635, this may be the island´s administrative capital but it´s not the largest settlement — only around 10,000 people live here — and feels like a more provincial Caribbean town, with colonial-era buildings, markets, and faded pastel façades lining the streets, and the harbor giving glimpses of ferries and fishing boats. There are several sights and sights worth seeing, though, such as the waterfront Marché Couvert, a typical Caribbean marketplace where you can also find local handicrafts; the 19th-century Maison Bufon, now home to the town´s House of Architecture and Heritage; a botanical garden, the mid-19th-century Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and the hilltop Fort Delgrès, built in 1650 as Fort St--Charles and tied to (and in 1989 renamed after) Louis Delgrès, a soldier who in 1802 perished spearheading local resistance to Napoleon Bonaparte´s reimposition of slavery in the French empire
Read more in my post Guadeloupe and 8 of its Top Highlights.
Comments