Geodyssey Trinidad and Tobago brochure for web use

Trinidad
Around Trinidad
Port of Spain
Practically all visits to Trinidad start at Port of Spain, one of the most important capitals in the Caribbean. It is
the centre of influence historically, culturally, politically and economically not only for Trinidad and Tobago
themselves, but for much of the eastern Caribbean.
The city lies on the Gulf of Paria, under the southwestern edge of Trinidad’s Northern Range. Tucked
between the hills and the sea, the centre is small–everywhere is within walking distance more-or-less.
Port of Spain’s downtown area contains the main commercial streets, with the busiest shops on
Independence Square. Woodford Square is the political centre, with the Red House, the seat of Trinidad &
Tobago’s parliament, along one side. The garden in the square is the setting for open-air political debate: the
topic of the day is written on a blackboard each morning. Weekly lectures in the square by Dr Eric Williams,
the father of the independence movement and the nation’s first prime minister, created this public forum–the
‘University of Woodford Square’.
The wide open space of the Queens Park Savannah is to the north. Just to the west, you’ll want to explore
the streets of Woodbrook which mostly date from 1910 or so when it first developed as a genteel residential
area. Woodbrook is fashionable again, dotted with restaurants and bars, many of which are in the original
small ‘gingerbread’ houses, fringed with fretwork and delicately painted.
Some of the finest examples of this architecture are between Woodbrook and the Queens Park Savannah,
in the more upmarket streets of Newtown and St Clair, which date from the turn of the twentieth century. The
seven grandest examples of Victorian houses lie in a row along St Clair’s border with the Savannah. Known
as the ‘Magnificent Seven’, the houses are each in a different style but vie to outdo each other in form and
decoration. Brian Lara’s house is perched on a hill overlooking the Savannah–a gift from a sports-mad nation.
Nearby are the Botanical Gardens and the impressive President’s Residence. The leafy suburbs of St Ann’s lie
behind.
Northern Trinidad
Northern Range
The forested hills of the Northern Range stretch across the entire 80km width of the north of Trinidad, from
beyond Port of Spain in the west across to the Atlantic in the east. Away from Port of Spain and the towns
along the Eastern Main Road, the hills are sparsely populated and natural. There are trekking trails through the
forests and good places for birds and other wildlife.
Trini Talk
Trinis have their own ways of speech, based on
English but with words, phrases and syntax borrowed
from African, East Indian, Amerindian, French,
Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and a few more besides.
Let’s get you started.
‘Dat’ is of course the Trini way of saying ‘that’ (‘th’
always being a ‘d’ unless you’re a school teacher). So
‘in trut’ means ‘for real’. Another example: ‘Gi’ me de
ting when you come to meh house, pahtnah.’
That’s easy enough, but how about ‘Mi tantie givin
de movay-lang’. That’s about a bad-mouthing aunt–
taken from French tante and mauvais langue.
And you should talk s-l-o-w of course, especially
on Tobago. See how long you can make ‘all right’
last–aaaaaaaaallll rite!
Now add plenty of dry wit, exaggerate like mad
whenever you can and, hey–you’re talking Trini!
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