St. Barthelemy harbor from Fort Karl.

St. Barthelemy

Tuesday, February 2nd

St Barthelemy was discovered by Columbus in 1493, who named it after his brother Bartholomew.  St. Barths at various times belonged to England, France and Sweden.  It has belonged to France since 1878, and is now a favorite spot for the rich and famous.  Prices here are very high, with many shops like Cartier and Hermes.  The island is only 8 square miles in size and has a small population of about 8,500.  The capital, Gustavia, is the only seaport on the island.  We did not take any tours, but walked around the city for a couple of hours.  We climbed 68 steps to get to the ruins of Fort Karl, where we had some pretty views of the harbor.  We got wet when a shower came up so we went back to the ship for lunch.  In the afternoon we went to the lounge to watch “Julie and Julia.”  We talked about Julia and her cooking at dinner tonight.

The weather was warm and sunny when we went ashore on tenders.  We were comfortable walking around, but got wet when it started raining halfway through our sightseeing.

© Jay 2020