St. Lucia · 6 sights · guided virtual tour, about 4 min
Welcome to Castries, the capital and largest city of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean. The city sits on a flood plain, built on reclaimed land and laid out in a neat grid, and its sheltered harbour welcomes cargo ships, ferries and cruise liners. Castries has a remarkable claim to fame for a small city: it is the birthplace of two Nobel laureates, the economist Arthur Lewis, honoured in 1979, and the poet Derek Walcott, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992. From the market to the hills and the famous Pitons, let's explore the island.
Pigeon Island
Photo: Pi3.124 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWe begin at Pigeon Island, an islet in the north of Saint Lucia that is no longer quite an island. In 1972 it was joined to the mainland by a causeway, built from earth dug out to create the Rodney Bay Marina. Its two peaks hold old forts, including Fort Rodney, from which the British kept watch on French ships from neighbouring Martinique. Today the island is a national park and landmark, and the main stage of the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival, so those old ramparts now echo with music.
Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Photo: Terry Ott ( TerryOtt ) · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsFacing Derek Walcott Square stands the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, named after Mary, mother of Jesus. A church first stood here in 1767, and the story since then is one of patience: one rebuilding stopped for lack of money and restarted years later. The foundation stone of the building you see was laid in 1894, after Father Louis Tapon asked for funds because the old church was too small, and the work was completed in 1897. Inside, both Father Tapon and the designer, Father Scoles, are remembered with memorials.
Castries Market
Photo: Gene93k · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsFollow the bustle to Castries Market, the city's largest open-air market. The building was constructed in 1891 by engineers from Liverpool and opened in 1894, originally to smarten up the town's appearance. More than 300 regular vendors trade here, joined by many more on market days, selling herbs, spices, produce and crafts. To ease crowding on the pavements, a Vendor's Arcade annex opened in 1996, where you can taste local cooking or watch crafts being made on the spot.
Morne Fortune
Photo: Pi3.124 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsSouth of the city rises the hill of Morne Fortune. The French moved their military headquarters here in 1765 and built a fort, finished in 1784. What followed was a tug of war: the British captured it in 1794, the French took it back in 1795, the British returned in 1796, and the fort changed hands again before staying British until independence in 1979. A memorial to the Inniskilling Regiment still recalls one of those battles. The old fortifications still crown the summit, and from here you get fine views over Castries.
Marigot Bay
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsSouthwest of Castries, Marigot Bay is enclosed on three sides by steep, forested hills. Its sheltered inner waters form a hurricane hole where boats ride out storms. A popular tale claims a British fleet once hid here from the French, disguising their masts with palm fronds, though there is no real evidence for it. Hollywood certainly came here: the bay was the setting for the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle. And the novelist James A. Michener called it the most beautiful bay in the Caribbean.
Pitons
Photo: Caribbeandy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWe finish with Saint Lucia's most famous sight, the Pitons. These two volcanic spires rise near the town of Soufrière: Petit Piton at 743 metres and Gros Piton, the larger, at about 798 metres, linked by a ridge. Piton simply means mountain peak in French. Together they form a World Heritage Site, cloaked in tropical forest. At least 148 plant species have been recorded on Gros Piton alone, and some 27 kinds of birds live there, five of them found nowhere else.
Lomakuume
