Caribbean Beat — January/February 2017 (#143)

NEIGHBOURHOOD
richard goldberg / shutterstock.com
Roseau,
Dominica
The picturesque capital of the “Nature
Isle” retains a small-town French Creole
atmosphere, with its historic architecture,
dense grid of streets, and the backdrop of
Dominica’s spectacular mountains
History
The earliest known community on this site, at the mouth
of the Roseau River, was a Kalinago (or Carib) village
called Sairi. Long overlooked by European colonising
powers, the island of Dominica was permanently settled
by the French in 1690, who chose the Kalinago village as
their headquarters, and renamed it for the reeds growing
along the river. Under French and, after 1763, British
control, Roseau was laid out in a neat grid of streets, with
the Old Market as the original centre.
Though the city’s built-up area has spread into nearby
suburbs — like Newtown to the south and Goodwill
to the north — Roseau remains relatively compact,
sandwiched between the Caribbean Sea and the foothills
of Dominica’s dramatic mountainous interior.
steve bennett / uncommoncaribbean.com
Thirsty?
Near the Roseau waterfront, the eccentric Ruins Rock
Café is definitely not your typical bar or rumshop. First
of all, the location: literally in the ruins of a burned-out
historic building, now roofed against the elements. Then
there’s the drinks: not just the usual tropical cocktails,
but a hair-raising, palate-bracing menu of locally distilled
bush rums, with flavours ranging from the relatively
straightforward — cinnamon, ginger — to exotics like
sea grape, to others that sound like you should drink
them only on a serious dare: grasshopper, centipede,
snake. Safer, but in its own way no less deadly, is the
famous rum punch.
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