Got in on time – at the crack of dawn! Nice day, sunny and warm but a wicked breeze. We got off early and followed a great little walking tour through the town. It’s a Frommer’s tour – and really was fun – but not exactly accurate. At one point they told you the exact opposite directions – but we figured it out…we can fight our way out of paper bags!
Walked around the town – which surprised us with it’s charm and people. The tour took us past the library which was a jail until converted in 1876. The books are actually housed in the little cells! It was quite interesting.
Then the walk took us up the the Queen’s Staircase (which is where they gave us the opposite directions!). Also, the staircase is located at the back of the parking lot for a hospital. It is completely unmarked and when we came through there was a van parked by the entrance. Thus, we walked the wrong way up to the Fort and almost missed the staircase.
On the way down from the fort, we were exploring whether we could climb the lighthouse (no, you can’t) and we find the stairs quite by accident. Glad we did too – they are carved out of the stone and provide a very narrow pathway that leads up to the top of the hill where the fort is located. It was incredibly tropical, lush and dark because the 66 stairs are literally carved out of this narrow canyon type area of rock. Did I mention it’s right behind the hospital parking lot? Oh yeah….well….just thought I’d make sure you remembered!
It was fun to see – and discover the way we did! Then we went off to the other end of the town to see the arch that led from the ritzy part of town to the old workers part of town, and down into the main area of Bay street – lined with Diamonds International and Tanzanite International and all those other shops that weren’t busy in the least.
We had coffee at this little walk up breakfast/lunch place, then wandered around waiting for the library to open (we couldn’t go in first thing in the morning). Later we had conch fritters at a restaurant with big decks right over Bay Street. With Kulik beer. Very good! Then back on the ship for our first day at sea and formal night.
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