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Barbados Attractions

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Barbados Attractions

At Trafalgar Square, the long tradition of British colonization is immortalized. The monument here, honoring Lord Nelson, was executed by Sir Richard Westmacott and erected in 1813. The great gray Victorian/Gothic Public Buildings on the square look like ones you might find in London. The east wing contains the meeting halls of the Senate and the House of Assembly, with some stained-glass windows representing the sovereigns of England. Look for the "Great Protector" himself, Oliver Cromwell.

St. Michael's Cathedral, east of Trafalgar Square, is the symbol of the Church of England. This Anglican church was built in 1655 but was completely destroyed in a 1780 hurricane. Reconstructed in 1789, it was again damaged by a hurricane in 1831. George Washington supposedly worshipped here on his visit to Barbados.

The Synagogue, Synagogue Lane, is one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere and is surrounded by a burial ground of early Jewish settlers. The present building dates from 1833. It was constructed on the site of an even older synagogue, erected by Jews from Brazil in 1654. It's now part of the National Trust of Barbados -- and a synagogue once again.

Barbados Museum, St. Ann's Garrison, St. Michael, is in a former military prison. Extensive collections show the island's development from prehistoric to modern times and give fascinating glimpses into the natural environment and fine examples of West Indian maps. The museum sells a variety of quality publications, reproductions, and handicrafts.

Farley Hill National Park surrounds what used to be one of the greatest houses of Barbados, Farley Hill, a mansion in ruins. The park lies to the north of the parish of St. Peter, directly across the road leading into the Barbados Wildlife Reserve. You can bring in a picnic and wander in the park, overlooking the turbulent waters of the Atlantic.

Barbados Activities

Hiking - The Barbados National Trust gives Sunday-morning hikes throughout the year. Led by young Bajans and members of the National Trust, the popular hikes cover a different area of the island each week. The guides give brief talks on subjects such as geography, history, geology, and agriculture. The hikes, free and open to all ages, are divided into fast, medium, and slow categories, with groups of no more than 10.

Scuba Diving & Snorkeling - The clear waters off Barbados have a visibility of more than 30m (100 ft.) most of the year. More than 50 varieties of fish are found on the shallow inside reefs, and there's an unusually high concentration of hawksbill turtles. On night dives, you can spot sleeping fish, night anemones, lobsters, moray eels, and octopuses. Diving is concentrated on the leeward west and south coasts, where hard corals grow thick along the crest of the reef, and orange elephant ear, barrel sponge, and rope sponge cascade down the drop-off of the outer reef. On a 2km-long (1 1/4-mile) coral reef 2 minutes by boat from Sandy Beach, sea fans, corals, gorgonians, and reef fish are plentiful. J.R., a dredge barge sunk as an artificial reef in 1983, is popular with beginners for its coral, fish life, and 6m (20-ft.) depth. The Berwyn, a coral-encrusted tugboat that sank in Carlisle Bay in 1916, attracts photographers for its variety of reef fish, shallow depth, good light, and visibility.

Windsurfing - Experts say the windsurfing off Barbados is as good as any this side of Hawaii. Windsurfing on Barbados has turned into a very big business between November and April, attracting thousands of windsurfers from as far away as Finland, Argentina, and Japan. The shifting of the trade winds between November and May and the shallow offshore reef of Silver Sands create unique conditions of wind and wave swells. This allows windsurfers to reach speeds of up to 50 knots and do complete loops off the waves. Silver Sands is rated the best spot in the Caribbean for advanced windsurfing (skill rating of 5-6).