Speightstown
Last Saturday I had a lovely afternoon (and the coldest beer since I got here) with a new friend who took me to lunch in Speightstown at Little Bristol Beach Bar. We wandered around Sand Street a bit, most of the town was closed--just a couple small dress shops were open and the apparently famous, PRC Bakery from which I bought the apparently famous coconut turnover--YUM. I love a country that has coconut, molasses, cou cou, red snapper and rum.
Situated in the middle of the west coast of Barbados, Speightstown was once known as Little Bristol due to the direct trade with Bristol, England. It remained a bustling fishing and shipping village overlooking the Caribbean Sea until it was jilted in favor of fancier, luxury shopping malls further south in Holetown and Bridgetown. It now has the look of an abandoned downtown with small shops that carry low cost, mass market goods and small, local restaurants. There are signs of returning investment that usually means gentrification is not far off. An old pharmacy building has been approved to be renovated into a boutique hotel. Many properties are for sale and sales are being made.
On our way to Speightstown, we stopped in Holetown in St. James' Parish long enough for me to take photos of the monument to the founding settlement of Barbados.
