Caribbean Beat — September/October 2019 (#159)
A calendar of events; music, film, and book reviews; travel features; people profiles, and much more.
A calendar of events; music, film, and book reviews; travel features; people profiles, and much more.
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While exploring Barbados, don’t forget your tastebuds.<br />
The Barbados Food and Rum Festival, running from<br />
24 to 27 <strong>October</strong> this year, serves up gastronomic<br />
adventures featuring local and international chefs and<br />
mixologists, in culture-rich style.<br />
Courtesy St Nicholas Abbey<br />
Day five<br />
All aboard for a history lesson, and a journey through time on the<br />
St Nicholas Abbey Heritage Railway. As the locomotive chugs<br />
through plantation fields, mahogany woods, and a limestone<br />
quarry, tour guides share historical tidbits to exercise your<br />
imagination. For instance, did you know that every familiar<br />
landmark for hundreds of acres along the east coast collapsed<br />
and disappeared during the Great Landslip of 1901? It left those<br />
gorgeous views near Cherry Tree Hill. There’s also a chance to<br />
get hands-on by manually turning the train around on the turntable<br />
as the tour returns to the abbey. St Nicholas Abbey, built<br />
in 1658, is one of only three Jacobean mansions in the Western<br />
Hemisphere, and now serves as a museum of eighteenthcentury<br />
plantation life.<br />
For another slice of Barbados history, head into the capital,<br />
Bridgetown. Hiding in plain sight, the Blackwoods Screw Dock<br />
in Cavans Lane is another historic gem: this is the only screw<br />
dock of its kind remaining in the world. This type of drydock<br />
uses powerful screw-lifting mechanisms to raise boats out of<br />
the water for repairs and cleaning. The adjoining Historical<br />
Maritime Centre features unique and attention-grabbing artefacts,<br />
photos, and exhibits of nineteenth- and twentieth-century<br />
Barbados.<br />
Further into the city, history, architecture, and art can be<br />
found round every corner. A walking food tour is a fascinating<br />
way to see off-the-beaten-path parts of the capital, and satisfy<br />
the appetite you’re bound to work up. Or pay a visit to UNION at<br />
Beckwith, a collective of designers, artisans, and entrepreneurs<br />
transforming the Beckwith Mall shopping centre with pop-up<br />
galleries, studios, and stores, offering innovative local products,<br />
from fashion to food to artworks. n<br />
<strong>Caribbean</strong> Airlines operates daily flights to Grantley<br />
Adams International Airport in Barbados from<br />
destinations across the <strong>Caribbean</strong>, with connections to<br />
other destinations in North and South America<br />
WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM<br />
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