Walking around St. Pierre

Our first day of exploration on Martinique started with a visit to the town of St. Pierre which was once the cultural and economical centre of Martinique and was known as the “Paris of the Caribbean”. In 1902 Mount Pelee erupted, destroying the entire town and killing roughly 30,000 people living there. The town was rebuilt but only about 5,000 people currently live there.

We started our visit at the local produce market. Oh what a treat!! We bought local avocados, pineapple, green beans, tomatoes and lettuce. There were many vendors selling all kinds of vegetables I’ve never seen before and some other vendors selling jewelry, spices, hot sauces and other locally made items. The place was very busy but we managed to get everything we wanted!

After we put all our goodies in the dinghy, we walked along the main street to the volcano monument – part of buildings left as a memorial to that catastrophic event. From there we went to the Earth Science Discovery Centre. This very modern looking building was built to withstand an 8.4 magnitude earthquake – although I think a volcanic eruption is more likely to take it out! We watched a 50 minute video that talked about the 1902 Mount Pelee disaster and all the other volcanos on the Caribbean islands. It was very informative. The centre kind of reminded me of the Science Centre but without all the interaction parts.

We ended our trip today with lunch at a little local restaurant and had what I’m assuming is local cuisine. Sharron and I had a pork dish with rice. Mark had scrimp with rice and John had a whole fish (about 10 inches long) with rice. It was very tasty and we were all quite full! It definitely was a great start to our stay here.