Friday 24th November
St John, the capital of Antigua
Going for an explore today. The bus to St John is a far cry from the buses trip we last took in Barbados and Grenada. The bus is silent, no loud music blaring out and the pace sedate, no screeching of wheels, no hooting and no traffic on the road. And the driver is talkative, he want to know all about s and act as a tour guide all the way. The scenery is also very different, no hard climb, we are moving between gently rolling green hills. Only take half hour to reach St John. Quite a pretty city, well kept and extremely clean. Even the market is immaculate. We make our way to the Cathedral, a major refurbishment work is taking place. The whole of the wooden interior has been gutted by termites... every plank from the ceiling to the floor boards is being replaced... enormous task... doubt if it will be ready for Christmas. Nice to see that festive decorations and lights are going up, we even find a crèche above a garage. The town is busy but also very quiet, again no loud music anywhere. The busiest place is the duty free village by the cruise docks, two cruise ships are pouring out tourists by the hundred, and they are all congregating in the duty free enclave. We have not seen so many people in one place for ages. The shops are also bewildering to us... so much stuff and so expensive! The old part of town behind the docks is really pretty, with its brightly painted frontage, again not many people there.
By the middle of the afternoon we have walked every street twice over. Time to get home. The return bus is a little bit busier but still eerily quiet...
