Visiting Pointe a Pitre
We needed a break from maintenance so we went and explored Pointe a Pitre for the day. We went back to the ACTe Memorial. The rain had prevented us having a good close look at the exterior of this beautiful building first time round. We have been gazing at it from the anchorage since. The structure is lit up at night and its colourful waves reflected in the water make a multi-colour backdrop to our evening meals which we take on deck.
Following the sea front, we found the stairs that led us to the top of the building and we found ourselves surrounded by the metal lace of the structure reflected in the black shiny polish of the stone. The impression of being encaged by metal on one side and by the reflection on the other sid is quite strong. It forms a long tunnel with the blue sea and the port on the right, the other side only reflect the construction. Following the gallery, leading to the high bridge above the car par we have a great view of the port and the outskirt of the city, a mishmash of brand new low rise flats and much older one storey houses in various state of disrepair. The art deco office building at the entrance of the site is the only remain of the sugar cane factory that stood there for over 100 years. I do love this building and I do think that a museum/memorial dedicated to slavery should be here, but I bet a few eyebrows were raised when this was built up at great expense no doubt, when the town may have benefitted in a few upgrades. The bridge connects to the hill and a peaceful remembrance garden showing distances to those far flung places where the slaves came from.
From there the historic centre of Pointe a Pitre is only a short distance away. The street is a typical street leading from a port, even the ladies of the nights are plying their trade in the shade of shabby old buildings in broad daylight. The map lists 19 places of interest and we managed to see them all, admittedly the centre is quite small. Some of it is has been taken care of, other bits not but it has a certain charm and it is a pleasure to perambulate the shady streets, discovering beautiful old buildings amongst not so nice newer one.
The town has been plagued by hurricanes, earthquake and other calamities for centuries which explain the weird juxtaposition of various architectural eras. It is the end of the school day and flurries of children fill the streets and the park. It is a very pleasant town and it feels comfortable and safe. We spent most of the afternoon looking up as the shop front on the ground floor do not do justice to the architecture of the buildings. We did not venture too far from the centre, the outskirts have been given over to the 70’s with tall square constructions, not very inspiring. It all feels very French but also so very different. We like it.